i THE HOLE IN HOLISM: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE ?HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF LEARNERS? WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE EMOTIONS DOMINIQUE DIX-PEEK A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education Johannesburg, 2007 ii ABSTRACT The National Curriculum Statement argues that it takes all of the different components of the individual into account when attempting to educate each learner. It states that one of the goals of the National Curriculum Statement is to promote the ?holistic development of learners?, and within this area to take each learner?s emotions into account. This is a bold statement that has many practical implications for the learner, the educator, and the lecturers in teacher training programmes. There appears to be very little guidance provided in the National Curriculum Statement or teacher training programmes with regards to how one should take the ?holistic development of learners?, and specifically the emotions into account. For this reason, this research focuses on whether it is possible to prepare teachers to take the ?whole child? into account, with particular reference to the emotional dimension of the learner. The research also focuses on whether educators in schools feel adequately prepared to look at the emotions, and what different factors come into play when attempting to look at the both the emotions and the ?holistic development of learners?. In order to do this, the current research focuses on Life Orientation, since it appears to be the subject that is most able to deal with the cognitive, spiritual, physical social and emotional needs of the learners. With the purpose of achieving the abovementioned objectives, the researcher conducted a qualitative research study which involved the interviews of six Life Orientation Educators from six different public schools in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg; as well as three lecturers who lecture Life Orientation at the University of the Witwatersrand. The findings of this research report indicate that most of the educators and lecturers who participated in the research feel inadequately prepared to take the emotions, and the holistic development of learners, into account in the teaching /learning process. There are a number of reasons for this. First, many participants felt that both the emotions and holism are implied within the curriculum. However, the participants felt that there is not an explicit explanation for what these elements of the individual are. As a result of the lack of a coherent explanation of the different elements of the individual, the participants felt that it is difficult to teach the non-cognitive aspects of the individual. Second, because the emotions and holism are implicit rather than explicit, it was felt that there are no clear indications provided by the National Curriculum Statement, or in the Life Orientation courses or workshops on how it is possible to teach or assess the whole child, and the emotions specifically. KEY WORDS: Emotions, Holism, Holistic Development, Life Orientation, Theories of Emotion, National Curriculum Statement, Affect, Feelings iii Dedication To Gregory Borman: my muse and my love. He provided energy when my motivation was failing me, support when I was not in my ?happy space? and the vigour to continue when things were at their best. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the following people. Rashad Bagus, Principal Tutor in the School of Education. I believe that there are few people in this world who have as exceptional a mind as Rashad. He has given me constant inspiration, guidance, and motivation. My family, especially my mother Hilary, father Douglas, and sister Therese, who have provided ?holistic? support to me during my masters. Dr Carol MacDonald, who lectured me, encouraged me, pushed me and accepted me. The ladies who participated in my study. They were an insight and a pleasure. To my friends who kept me climbing. v Declaration I hereby declare that this research report is my own unaided work. It is being submitted for the degree of Master of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. ___________________ Dominique Dix-Peek ___________________ vi Table of Contents: ABSTRACT ii DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv DECLARATION v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi ACRONYMS and ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: Literature Review 4 Introduction 4 Reasons for taking the Holistic Development of Learners into Account 4 International Perspectives of Holism and Emotions in Education 7 The South African National Curriculum Statement and Emotions 8 Conclusion 12 CHAPTER TWO: Emotions and Education 14 Introduction 14 Emotional Theories in the Classroom 15 Elements of Emotions 20 Theories of the Emotions 28 Problems with regard to taking the Emotions into Account in the Classroom 37 Conclusion 38 CHAPTER THREE: Research Methods and Data Analysis 40 Introduction 40 Aims of Research 40 Research Method 41 Sample 41 Method of Data Collection 42 Research Process 43 Methods of Analysis 43 Analysis 44 Reactivity of Research 45 Limitations 45 Ethical Considerations 46 Results: School-based Participants 47 Results: University-based Participants 73 vii CHAPTER FOUR: Discussion 94 Training and the Emotions 94 Assessment and the Emotions 97 Other Factors influencing taking the emotions into account in the Teaching / Learning Process 103 CONCLUSION 108 REFERENCE 111 APPENDIX 1 116 Questionnaire Schedule: School-based Participants 116 Questionnaire Schedule: University-based Participants 118 viii Acronyms and Abbreviations CASS: Continuous Assessment FET: Further Education and Training GDE: Gauteng Department of Education GET: General Education and Training JCE: Johannesburg College of Education LO: Life Orientation OBE: Outcomes-Based Education PGCE: Post Graduate Certificate in Education RAU: Rand Afrikaans University TED: Transvaal Education Department UJ: University of Johannesburg YP: Youth Preparedness ix List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Two separate pathways that mediate between sensory signals and fear reactions 30 Table 1: Participant Profile: School-based Participants 47 Table 2: Participation by participants in training workshops or programmes 48 Table 3: Perceived adequacy of educators in attempting to take Emotions into account with regard to training received 50 Table 4: Participant?s views on taking whole child into account in teaching /learning process 51 Table 5: Ability for Non- Life Orientation Educators taking the emotions into account 54 Table 6: Factors that Influence Emotion-Based Discipline 55 Table 7: Programmes designed to take the emotions into account 57 Table 8: Participants views on the ability of educators to assess the emotions 60 Table 9: Views of participants in assigning a rating scale to the emotions 62 Table 10: Views of participants with regard to the ability of continuous assessment in helping to assess the emotional development of the learner 65 Table 11: Participants? views on the difference the size of the class makes when attempting to take the emotions into account 66 Table 12: Factors affecting taking the Holistic Education of Learners into account at a school level 68 Table 13: Participant Profile: University-based Participants 73 Table 14: Participation by participants in training workshops or programmes 74 Table 15: Views of participants with regard to the training programmes or courses 74 Table 16: Participants familiarity with the notion of Holism 75 Table 17: How the participants felt that they were best able to create awareness of holism amongst prospective educators 76 Table 18: Participants view on the perceived preparedness of prospective educators taking Holism into account in the teaching/learning process 78 Table 19: Views of participants with regard to the assessment of non- cognitive aspects of learners in schools 80 Table 20: Views of participants in assigning a rating scale to the emotions 82 Table 21: Views of participants with regard to the ability of Continuous assessment in helping to assess the emotional development of the learner 85 Table 22: Factors affecting taking the Holistic Education of Learners into account at both a school and University level 87 1 Introduction The National Curriculum Statement argues that the ?holistic development of the learner? (National Curriculum Statement, 2003, p.4) needs to be taken into account within the educative process. The National Curriculum Statement (2003) continues by contending that the holistic development of the learner includes the intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of the child. While the abovementioned sentiment by the National Curriculum Statement is both admirable and noble, since it allows that the different areas of the learners? development will make a difference to his/her educative experience, it does not illustrate how the different areas of the child may be taken into account within the classroom situation. For this reason, this report intends to illustrate the practical difficulties of taking the holistic development of learners into account within the teaching /learning process, while simultaneously addressing the difficulties experienced by teacher-trainers when attempting to prepare prospective educators in being proficient in taking more than the cognitive dimensions of the learner into account within the teaching/learning process. While it is important to interpret the holistic development of the learner in terms of his or her intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and physical dimensions, this report will, however, focus specifically on the emotions as an important element of the child?s development. The focus on the emotions in this report will be treated as a paradigmatic instance of the concept of the holistic development of learners In order to adequately look at the practical implications of the emotions as a working example of holism, the first chapter of this report begins by looking at the emergence of policies which foreground the holistic development of learners. This report observes that countries other than South Africa are also attempting to take holism, and the emotions, into account within their education structures. However, like South Africa, these countries experience similar problems when attempting to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. These problems appear to be present within the curricular policy documents of both South Africa and other countries. These curricular documents state that the emotional, moral, spiritual and physical sides of the learners should be taken 2 into account within the learners? education. However, in each of the documents, there is a lack of clarity on exactly how these dimensions of the learner should be taken into account in the teaching /learning process. Furthermore, in each of the policy documents reviewed, there are no obvious means of assessing more than the cognitive side of the learner. For this reason, I contend that this lack of clarity is, firstly, as a consequence of the difficulties related to assessing the emotional processes entailed in the educative process. A second reason for this omission is that emotions are a difficult concept to put into practice, and for this reason, policy-makers have chosen to pay little more than ?lip-service? to this area of the learners? development. Having discussed the idea of holism and the emotions in the policy documents, in Chapter Two I look at the emotions specifically and how they may be viewed within the classroom situation. This chapter reviews and criticises different theories that attempt to take the emotions into account within the educative process, including constructivism and what Robert and Smith call ?Emotional Management? (2002, p.291). The chapter further analyses the variety of phenomena that is included in the word ?emotion?, including background emotions, primary emotions, drives, secondary emotions and feelings. Finally, Chapter Two looks at the plethora of theories of emotions, including neurological theories, the evolutionary approach to the emotions, the behavioural approach to emotions and finally the conflict theory of emotions. The purpose of analysing the excess in theories and emotional data is to illustrate the confusion and difficulty that educators may have when attempting to take the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process. Chapter Three of this report considers the research methods adopted for this research, and surveys six educators and three lecturers who are in the field of teacher education. Both the lecturers and the educators are involved specifically in the area of Life Orientation since this appears to be the learning area in which the emotions and holism are overtly discussed within the National Curriculum Statement. The methodology is followed by a presentation and analysis of the interviews. 3 I conclude by demonstrating that while it is noteworthy to promote the holistic development of learners (including the emotions) within the classroom situation, there are a number of reasons that this is difficult and impractical to do so. Emotions are conceptually vague and often rhetorically hollow, requiring the construction of 1) a lucid, explicit conceptual elaboration of ?emotions?, and 2) a theoretically informed language of description with which to inform the data. These two requirements have practical implications for those who are attempting to teach and assess the emotions within the educative process. Educators often feel incompetent in teaching and assessing the emotions since there is no clear explanation of what the emotions are. There is also no indication of how to assess this element of the learners? development. Furthermore, since the emotions tend to be subjective and implicit, it becomes difficult to give a clear, explicit and unambiguous mark or assessment standard to this aspect of the learner. 4 Chapter One Literature Review Introduction In the initial part of this chapter I briefly discuss the reasons behind the shift to the ?holistic development of learners?, within the new South African Education System. The reasons consist primarily of the government?s desire to successfully educate the ?whole? child, thereby encouraging lifelong learning amongst the youth of the country and to promote multiculturalism amongst South African citizens. The consideration of the whole child and the emotions continues into the South African National Curriculum Statement, in which the area of Life Orientation is used as the learning area that is stated to take the intellectual, physical, emotional, spiritual and personal aspects of the learner into account. However, it is shown below that while the National Curriculum Statement takes the whole child, as well as the emotions, into account in theory, in practice it does not show what holism or the emotions are, nor does it indicate how it is possible to teach or assess this side of the child?s education. This chapter furthermore discusses the international perspectives in taking both the holistic development of the learner and the emotions into account in the educative process. I argue that within education systems from international communities, the whole child has been considered within the teaching /learning process, however there is neither mention of how it is possible to take the whole child into account, nor how it is possible to assess this area of the child?s development. Reasons for taking the Holistic Development of Learners into Account Cross, Mungadi and Rouhani (2002) argue that ?Education systems are part and parcel of the fabric of the societies in which they operate? (p. 180). Batcher (1981) supports this 5 view when she states that schools are entrusted with the most critical function of society. This being self-perpetuation. Bernstein (1986) explains this view of self-perpetuation as he argues that educational knowledge reflects the social principles of control as well as the way that power is distributed in society. Consequently, education is reflective of the dominant norms in society, as well as the ways in which society is organised at any particular time. This viewpoint is obvious in the National Curriculum Statement (2003, p.viii) as it states, ?knowledge in itself is not neutral, but is underpinned by the collective vision, mission, values and principles of a people?. The South African government, through education, is attempting to bring to the fore this collective vision as it advances the ?principles of democracy, human rights, social justice, equity, non-racism, non-sexism and ubuntu1? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, (2003), p viii). Moreover, the curriculum intends on encouraging the ?development of a balanced and confident learner who can contribute to a just and democratic society, a productive economy and an improved quality of life for all? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12: Life Orientation, 2007, p. 7). Martin (2002) agrees with this view asserted by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) by emphasising that who learners are, what they know, how they know it, and how they act in the world are not separate elements, but reflect the interdependencies between the individual and the external world. Yet, simply because of the interdependencies between our world and the individual, it is clear that ?human development ? is part and parcel with education, and includes the emotional, ecological, spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual aspects of living? (Martin, 2002, p. 4). Miller (1999) affirms this view when he states, Throughout the 200-year history of public schooling, a widely scattered group of critics have pointed out that the education of young human beings should involve much more than simply moulding them into future workers or citizens. The Swiss humanitarian Johann Pestalozzi, the American Transcendentalists: Thoreau, Emerson, and Alcott, the founders of ?progressive? education ? Francis Parker and John Dewey ? and pioneers such as Maria Montessori and Rudolf Steiner, among others, all insisted that education should be understood as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of the developing child. (Italics added) 1 ?Ubuntu? is translated as ?human dignity? 6 In the spirit of these traditional education thinkers, both the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) Grade 10 ? 12 (general) and the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) Grade R ? 9 (schools) states that the ?intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of learners will be addressed through the design and development of appropriate Learning Programmes and through the use of appropriate assessment instruments? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, 2003, p. 9; Revised National Curriculum Statement Grade R ? 9, undated, p. 10; Italics added). The NCS also states that one of the purposes of the Further Education and Training2 Curriculum is to ?promote the holistic development of learners? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, (2003), p. 4). Clayton (2002) provides a reason for taking the whole child into account when he maintains that simply because a student or learner meets standards in an education system does not necessitate that s/he has been successfully educated. Clayton (2002) further argues that if the education system does not take the whole child into account, it is abdicating its responsibility from future citizens, since by educating the whole child, children will seek out skills in accepting and interacting with others in a multicultural society. The learners will additionally develop a high sense of self-esteem, built on feelings of security, positive selfhood and feelings of belonging. As can be seen above, it is necessary to interpret the ?whole child? in terms of his /her intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions. However, as indicated earlier, for the purposes of this report I will focus specifically on the emotions3 as an important part of the child?s development. This is because, firstly, the various aspects of the whole child are too broad to discuss adequately, and because of, what I term, the ?cognitivist orientation? of schooling and education, which tends to neglect and minimise the emotions. Secondly, it is important to realise, as Warner (2006) argues, the emotions can either enhance or prevent learning from occurring and are an inherent part of every individual at each stage of their lives. 2 The Further Education and Training curriculum within the schooling system is the education provided to learners from Grade 10 ? 12. It is meant to prepare learners adequately for success in further learning and for employment. It is registered at Level 4 of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) 3 For an extensive account of the emotions, look at Chapter 2 ? Emotions and Education, p. 14 7 However, while both the NCS Grade 10 -12 and the RNCS Grade R ? 9 provide the means to address the intellectual or cognitive needs of the learner, it is unclear how it intends to attend to their social, emotional, or spiritual needs. Moreover, it is unclear how these needs will be taught and assessed within the curriculum framework. While both the NCS and the RNCS state that the emotions and the ?whole child? should be taken into account, neither of these policies provide any significant recommendations on how this might be accomplished and whether it is even possible to teach and assess the non-cognitive parts of the learner, such as the emotions. International Perspectives of Holism and Emotions in Education From a global perspective, there are similar problems in the curricular statements as well as the curricular themes and programmes of various countries. The Irish Curriculum, for instance, is an example of another country, which, like South Africa has chosen to take the different elements of the learner into account in the teaching /learning process. The Irish Cross Curricular Educational Themes (2006, p.2) states: Pupils should have the opportunities to: ? Learn to respect and value themselves and others; ? Appreciate the interdependence of people within society; ? Enable them to achieve their physical, psychological and social potential and to improve their self-knowledge and self-esteem; ? Develop knowledge and understanding of themselves and others as individuals ? their strengths and limitations, personal qualities, interests, abilities, skills, potential, values, motivation and needs. In addition to this, the Irish Cross Curricular Themes (2006, p.2) also asserts, The dimension of themes which relates to personal qualities, attitudes and inter- personal skills are matters of general concern and all teachers should be aware of their importance in the curriculum. Through their teaching methods and classroom management, teachers should develop in their pupils, skills and attitudes relating to self, relationships and interpersonal skills. Furthermore, the Irish Cross Curricular Themes (2006) maintains that pupils should develop to their fullest potential. They should develop a positive self-image and self- 8 confidence. They should also understand the stages involved and the factors which govern physical and emotional growth. Echoing the South African National Curriculum Statement (2003), the Irish Cross Curricular Themes (2006), suggests that the ?whole child? needs to be taken into account within the Curriculum, and furthermore that emotional development be a significant factor in the understanding of the learners. However, there is little to suggest how elements such as ?factors which govern physical and emotional growth? (as stated above) can be taught or assessed. Additionally, there are few or no references in curriculum statements from different countries around the world to give an indication as to how the emotions are being taken into account, nor how the educators are supposed to teach and assess the whole child (See, for instance, Guidance and Career Education for Grades 9 and 10, and Grades 11 and 12; Health and Physical Education for Grades 9 and 10, and Grades 11 and 12 by the Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006; as well as Australian School Education Summary (2006), by the Australian Department of Education). There may be a number of reasons for this omission. The first reason may be due to the fact that the non-cognitive dimensions such as the emotions are either assumed by the curriculum to be inherent in the teaching /learning process and is thus not worth mentioning. The second reason is linked to the first. This reason assumes that because the emotions are considered inherent, rather than explicit, it is practically difficult to take the emotions into account, and for this reason the policy- makers have chosen to omit the concept of the emotions from the curriculum. The final reason for the omission of holism, and emotions in specific, in the curriculum may be due to difficulties that may be inherent in assessing the non-cognitive aspects of a child. The South African National Curriculum Statement and Emotions Both globally and within South Africa, it is generally understood that children are compelled to come to school by the law, their parents, teachers, and the school system, and yet it is seldom observed that this obligation has very real manifestation in human emotions (Batcher, 1981). Kohn (2004) furthermore believes that emotions in the classroom tend to be seen as a mixture between anxiety and boredom. He maintains that very few children 9 appear to take pleasure from what they do within the educative context, and furthermore that the boredom and anxiety shown by learners as the primary emotions within class do not alarm educators. This is exacerbated by the fact that when happiness does make an appearance in schools, educators may feel obliged to apologise for it, in case they are seen to be providing a feel-good education, rather than an education that feeds the more rational, cognitive sides of the learner?s development. Theron & Dalzell (2006) argue that adolescence is a time of increased vulnerability, and this makes a difference to the child?s emotional security and well-being. They continue by arguing that the adolescent child is in the process of developing psychologically, and in ways that characterise intellectual, social, spiritual and emotional characteristics. For this reason it is understood that the adolescent will face changes that may cause difficulties and stress, and simultaneously excitement and growth, within all of the aforementioned domains of development. Hyson (2004) argues that while many teaching professionals have ?believed that children?s emotions are central to their lives and should be central to the curriculum ? in recent years these beliefs have been eroded? (p.3). She continues by stating that teaching programmes feel pressured to adopt a curriculum focused exclusively on mastery of cognitive skills. This narrow curriculum is frequently accompanied by formal, emotionally detached relationships between teachers and young children. Batcher (1982) concurs with this argument when she asserts that emotions must be the most meaningful expression of a child?s existence since it is the one tool that children have at their disposal with which to shape both their lives and the lives of the people around them and which everyone ? parents, peers and teachers ? are able to understand. In order to wield this tool effectively, the National Curriculum Statement in South Africa has provided a learning area in which there is a focus on the ?holistic development of learners?. This learning area is Life Orientation (L.O.), and it is important because it is said to take into account the physical, spiritual, emotional, personal and intellectual development of learners. In order to do this, there are four different branches of learning contained within Life Orientation. These include, Personal Well-being; Citizenship Education; Recreation and Physical Well-being and Career and Career Choices (National 10 Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation, 2003; 2007, hereafter abbreviated to NCS: L.O.). These different learning areas may also be beneficial in attempting to take emotions into account in the educative process since these learning areas have the potential to intensify the learners? awareness of their emotions, by either focusing on their emotions, or through controversial or thought-provoking arguments. However, this intensified emotional context has the potential to build barriers to student engagement (Roberts & Smith, 2002). Roberts and Smith (2002) furthermore argue that the different dimensions of difference amongst learners may activate a number of emotional responses, and, depending on how these emotional responses are recognized and interpreted by the educator and the learners, the combined effect will be a ?redefinition of the emotional climate of the classroom? (p. 292) This ?redefinition of the emotional climate of the classroom? has been grappled with by the National Curriculum Statement. The National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation (2003, p. 9) states, Life Orientation is the study of the self in relation to society. It applies a holistic approach. It is concerned with the personal, social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, motor and physical growth and development of learners, and the way in which these dimensions are interrelated and expressed in life. The focus is the development of self-in-society, and this encourages the development of balanced and confident learners who will contribute to a just and democratic society, a productive economy, and an improved quality of life for all. (Italics added) Within Life Orientation, the Learning Outcome, ?Personal Well-being? states, ?this area focuses on self-concept, emotional literacy, social competency and life-skills? (National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation, 2003, p. 11, italics added). The National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation further states that emotional literacy is, The capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions in ourselves and in our relationships well. It is the capacity to love oneself and others while developing honesty and the ability to take responsibility for own actions (ibid, p.68). This definition, however, while pronouncing what emotional literacy is, does not give any suggestions about how it is possible to teach emotional literacy. Nor does it help with the 11 practicalities of teaching anything to do with the emotional components of the individual. Theron and Dalzell (2006) argue that the adolescent needs to develop a positive identity, self-image, self esteem and self-worth in order to manage their lives effectively. Furthermore, a negative self-image can result in negative and /or self-destructive behaviour. Theron and Dalzell (2006) continue by contending that the time during which the adolescent?s identity is in the process of development is a period of heightened vulnerability, and negative emotions (such as sadness, anger or depression), as well as an inability to cope with stress may lead to emotional disorders and difficulty with socialisation. However, while the NCS: L.O (2003) once again provides a definition for what it is to cope with emotions, it does not provide a clear or practical account of how to take the emotions into account in the educational process, how to teach a learner to cope with emotions, nor how to assess this area of development. The NCS: L.O (2003, p.67) gives the following definition for ?coping with emotions?: Coping refers to the ability to manage or deal effectively with a situation or a problem. Emotions are mental or instinctive feelings in response to internal or external stimuli. Emotions may be considered positive or negative. Regardless of their nature, they can be destructive if poorly handled or constructive if adequately managed. This definition is simplistic and does not give an adequate understanding of exactly what emotions are, nor how they emerge within the individual. The NCS (general) likewise does not give an adequate description of how either emotions or holism is possible in the teaching /learning process (See the NCS, Grade 10 ? 12, (2003). This leads to the question of how it will be possible for an educator to teach a learner to recognise both his /her own feelings, as well as those of other people? It furthermore leads to the question, what would a learner have to adequately demonstrate in order to be competent in this learning area? Is it possible to only partially recognise our own feelings, or the feelings of others, and if so, how does the educator assess this and give it a mark that corresponds to a mark of achievement or rating scale (for example, a meritorious description of competence is between 60-79%) (As seen in the NCS: L.O. p.43)? Moreover, what does it mean to ?manage emotions in ourselves and in our relationships well? (ibid, p.68)? This statement is vague since it gives neither the essence of what good emotional management would be, nor a picture of poor emotional management. 12 In terms of the assessment of the holistic development of the learner, the Assessment Standards for Personal Well-being attempts to make provisions for this orientation to the teaching /learning process (National Curriculum Statement, Life Orientation, 2003). It states that the learner is able to maintain personal well-being when s/he is able to: ? Apply various strategies to enhance self-awareness and self-esteem, while acknowledging and respecting the uniqueness of self and others. ? Explain different life roles, and how they change and affect relationships ? Explain changes associated with growing towards adulthood and describe values and strategies to make responsible decisions regarding sexuality and lifestyle choices in order to optimise personal potential ? Describe the concepts ?power? and ?power relations? and their effect on relationships between and among genders (NCS: L.O. 2003, p.14) The problem with the above quote is that there is little evidence that the NCS is attempting to address the ?intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of learners ? through the design and development of appropriate Learning Programmes and through the use of appropriate assessment instruments?, nor what these ?appropriate assessment instruments? are (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, 2003, p. 9; Revised National Curriculum Statement Grade R ? 9, undated, p. 10) Anspaligh, Hendrick and Rosato (1997) argue that personal wellness depends on, amongst other things, the emotions. They state that balanced emotions give the individual the ability to ?control stress and to express emotions appropriately and comfortably? (p.6). However, this component of Personal Well-being is once again problematic in a similar way to the problems stated above, since there is no way to teach or assess this area, and there is no clear suggestions on what the appropriate expression of emotions is, nor how one should express emotions comfortably. Conclusion 13 From the above discussion, it is evident that after the initial reference to the ?holistic development of learners? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, (2003), p. 4), there is little or no indication of how teachers should address the ?social, emotional, [and] spiritual needs of learners? (National Curriculum Statement Grade 10 ? 12, (2003) p. 9; Revised National Curriculum Statement Grade R ? 9 (undated), p. 10), or whether it is possible to provide clarity and guidance to the educators who are expected to teach and assess this aspect of the child?s education. While the National Curriculum Statement has argued that the emotions and the ?holistic development of learners? should be taken into account, this appears to be little but ?lip-service? to areas of the curriculum that do not have to do with cognition. This report intends to consider the omission within the National Curriculum Statement with regards to the emotional development of the learner, as well as the problematic expectation that educators are presumed to be able to teach and assess the ?whole child?. In the next chapter, this research report will provide a detailed exposition of the emotions and its related concepts, as well as the different theories of emotions, in order to show the complex nature of the emotions and the competing explanations of the origin and role of the emotions in the development of an individual. 14 Chapter Two Emotions and Education It?s been necessary since before the time of Socrates to reject the passions, the emotions, in order to free the rational mind for an understanding of nature?s order which was as yet unknown. Now it?s time to further an understanding of nature?s order by reassimilating those passions which were originally fled from. The passions, the emotions, the affective domain of man?s consciousness, are a part of nature?s order too. The central part. Robert M Pirsig, 1975, p.287 Introduction Because emotions play such a critical role in the educational process, this chapter deals with emotions in the classroom. In order to do so, this chapter commences by looking at how theorists have perceived emotions within schools. It briefly goes into constructivism and emotions, and how this may be linked to what is known as ?attribution?; ?locus of control? and ?flow? in the classroom. After having looked at the strengths and weaknesses of this theory, this chapter continues by discussing ?emotional management?, and what effect this theory has in taking the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process. Because both of the theories examined above appear to assume that emotions are implicit within the classroom situation and do not question what emotions are, nor how they come about, the rest of this chapter deals with these two topics. There are two subsections that examine these two topics. The first subsection looks at the complexity of emotions as well as the different elements ascribed to the emotions. These constituent parts of the emotions include background emotions, primary emotions, drives, secondary emotions, social emotions and feelings. Thereafter, the second subsection delves into a number of different emotional theories. These include the neurology of emotions, the evolutionary approach to the emotions, the behavioural approach to the emotions and the conflict theory of emotions. 15 Finally the chapter concludes with the argument while there are theories of emotions that may guide an educator in the classroom, these theories give neither an explicit idea of what emotions are, nor how they come about. By going into the constituent elements of emotions it may be observed that with such a plethora of emotional components, it is difficult that an educator can feel competent in taking the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process. Furthermore, the different theories of emotions do not provide an adequate account of the emotions and how they impact individuals. Additionally, as with the different components of emotions, since there are so many different theories of emotions, it is difficult to find a stable theory of emotions that explains how emotions come about and how they may be expressed. Thus, I argue that despite the surfeit of emotional theories, as well as the research on the different components of the emotions, there is nothing that allows the educator to come closer to teaching and assessing the emotions as a fundamental part of the holistic development of the learner. Emotional Theories in the Classroom In terms of education, emotions play a pivotal role. Warner (2006) argues that students are human beings rather than machines, and are therefore instilled with a wide range of emotions that can either enhance or prevent learning from taking place. Rhodes (2003) agrees with this opinion, as she believes that a basic tenet of brain-based instruction is that cognition is linked to emotion, which can have either positive or negative effects on learners. Both of the above authors argue that positive emotions4 improves performance, while negative emotions5 often mean the deterioration of academic performance. This opinion is reinforced by Goleman (1995) who claims that good moods are able to enhance the ability to think flexibly and with more complexity, while ?anxiety ? sabotages academic performance of all kinds? (p.84). 4 Positive emotions are characterised, as Damasio (2003) states, by ?varieties of pleasure? (p.131), including happiness, pride and gratitude 5 Negative emotions are characterised ?not just by the absence of pleasure but by varieties of pain? (Damasio, 2003, p. 131), including fear, anger, disgust, and sadness 16 There are a number of different theories on how emotions may be taken into account practically within the classrooms. The first is proposed by Rhodes (2003) who argues that constructivism may be used as a framework for allowing learners to freely share their emotions with the rest of the class. Rhodes (2003, p.39) maintains that the premise for constructivism is that ?reality is created through synthesis of scientific knowledge and spontaneous incident?. The theory of constructivism holds that each individual has the ability to gain knowledge, since this knowledge is essentially a process of his /her own cognition. Piaget (1971) is a major proponent of the theory of constructivism. For Piaget, knowledge is gained through construction, in which there is an interaction between the individual and his/ her environment. The individual is born with elementary schemes6 and functions which are innate, such as the reflexes7 and instincts (Mussen, 1983), and these schemes and functions make the construction of knowledge possible (Armstrong, 1999). As Mussen (1983) argues, ?Knowledge, then, at its origin, neither arises from objects nor from the subject, but from interactions ? at first inextricable ? between the subject and those objects? (p. 104). Mussen (1983) furthermore contends that since objective knowledge has its origins in the interactions between the subject and objects, rather than as a mere recording of external knowledge, it necessarily applies to types of activity. Those being the coordination of actions themselves and the introduction of interrelations between the objects. Mussen (1983) believes that these two activities are interdependent since it is ?only through action that these relations originate? (p. 104). However, ?those structures are the result of a construction and are not given in the objects, since they are dependent on action, nor in the subject, since the subject must learn to coordinate his actions? (Mussen, 1983, p.104). In this way it is evident that construction is the natural consequence of the interaction between the subject and the object (Piaget, 1969). The theory assumes that there is an objective external world, which is not directly accessible to the individual. 6 A scheme is a basic sequence of events that consist of three parts: firstly there is a trigger or an occasion. Secondly there is an action or operation, and thirdly, there is the result of sequel of activity. Piaget argues that human beings do not start out as ?blank slates?, but have innate reflexes that are genetically predisposed as a result of evolution (von Glasersfeld, 1980). 7 Gruber and Voneche (1977) state that a reflex in the Piagetian sense is a reaction of the individual, and is hereditary and not acquired through experience. 17 Rather, each individual constructs his /her own knowledge. Von Glasersfeld (1989, p. 182) states, ?knowledge is not passively received but actively built up by the cognising subject?. Within the process of construction, teachers are meant to provide the ?structures of the learning, but students must be involved in the spontaneous creation of learning and reality? (Rhodes 2003, p. 39). Rhodes (2003) reasons that the ?many tenets of constructivism are designed to promote collaborative creation of meaning, which adds depth, complexity, and texture to the reality that students create? (p.39). Rhodes claims that there are three separate areas that are linked to the theory of constructivism, which makes a difference to taking the emotions into account within the classroom. These are: attribution theory, locus of control, and flow. According to Rhodes (2003, p. 38), attribution theory considers how ?individuals explain conditions in their environment?. Seligman (1990) argues that the degree of permanence to which a person attributes bad things in their lives makes a difference to that person?s motivation and affect, as well as their achievement. Rhodes states, ?People who perceive the causes of bad events as temporary rather than permanent and as specific rather than universal are more likely to persevere with tasks than those who interpret the causes of bad events as permanent and universal? (p.38). Related to attribution theory is the notion of locus of control, which assumes that there are internal and external attributions. Rhodes (2003) believes that when people show signs of having an internal locus of control, those people are able to control the events that occur in their lives. However, those with an external locus of control assume that the environment controls events in their lives. Rhodes (2003) argues that people who tend to have an internal locus of control tend to be able to persist better with events in their lives, and moreover, research done on locus of control suggests that people who live long healthy lives ?attribute good events in their lives to themselves and bad ones to the external environment? (p.40). According to Rhodes (2003) the ability to choose which events in one?s life should be attributed to either internal well-being or external events may be used as an example of constructivism, in which an individual is able to fashion a meaningful reality. 18 The last area which may be linked to constructivism, which concerns the emotions is that of ?flow? (Rhodes, 2003). Flow is said to occur when individuals are so engrossed in his /her tasks that these tasks seem to flow. Rhodes (2003) argues, ?To achieve a state of flow, tasks must be appropriately challenging, engaging both emotions and cognition? (p.39). Rhodes (2003) suggests that it is possible to use the theory of constructivism, which is linked these different areas, to give positive or negative affect in the classroom. This is done in order to reduce unhealthy stress and teach learners that bad events are temporary and specific to present or certain circumstances. These linked areas give the learner the opportunity to ?create an emotionally safe environment, foster optimism and intrinsic motivation through principles of attribution, teach self-efficacy and create an environment that has conditions for flow? (Rhodes, 2003, p.39). The problem with this highly optimistic view of learning is that it takes neither the lack of motivation amongst learners into account, nor the negative emotions that result from the classroom experience. Warner (2006) concurs with this notion of the problematic nature of motivation in the classroom when he states that while one would ?hope that for the majority of young people, some aspect of their public school experience would serve as either the ignition point or as the fuel to keep the flames burning. Yet for some students within the context of the culture of school, that spark can be hidden or even extinguished? (p.6). Trout (2006) argues that one reason for this extinguished flame of learning is the inherent embarrassment and shame that is inevitable in the average class experience. Trout (2006, p. B.5) states, The threat of embarrassment and inadequacy pervades every nook and cranny of education. From preschool to grad school, students are subject to assaults on their self-confidence as their limitations of mind and character are repeatedly and publicly exposed. What could be more shameful, many feel, than being told what to think, or being constantly corrected, edited, graded and ranked? Trout (2006) argues that the most effective way to reduce the occasions for classroom humiliation is to either reduce course requirements (for instance, make the course easier by lowering the cognitive demand of a task) or changing grades (give a learner a higher grade than they would perhaps deserve). Because there are fewer demands placed on the 19 students, they have fewer opportunities to fail, or to have instances of shame. Trout contends that, ?what makes this approach so seductive is that it can be enacted with nobody the wiser and everybody the happier? (2006, p. B.5). However, Trout (2006, p. B.5) believes that instructors have a professional obligation to ?honestly and decently test, grade, monitor, correct, challenge, and criticise students?. He furthermore asserts that the fulfilment of that obligation will necessarily embarrass many of the students and learners; however, the goal should not be to banish all shame from the classroom, but to help students to deal with this shame and learn how to surmount it. Trout (2006) maintains that ?fraudulent educational practices do not really avoid shame, but instead deepen it, by conceding that students are unable to rise to the challenge, and insinuating that ? education is not important enough to warrant discomfort? (p. B.5). In his article, Shame on you, (2006), however, Trout does not give a clear indication of how it is possible to help students learn to deal with shame and discomfort. Rather, this area of the classroom experienced has been considered by Roberts and Smith (2002). Roberts and Smith (2002) argue that one way in which emotions such as humiliation and shame may be avoided in the classroom setting is through ?emotional management? (p. 291). While Roberts and Smith (2002) do not give a definition on what they assume emotional management to be, it is inferred that emotional management is the ability to control the emotions in the classroom setting. This allows that each emotion experienced in the classroom may provide a means for the learner to express him /herself, while simultaneously allowing the learners the desire to learn in a safe environment. Robert and Smith (2002) argue that one way to come to grips with emotional management in the classroom is through symbolic interactionism. They argue that the symbolic interactionist perspective on emotions emphasises the roles that individuals play in their construction of emotions and the role of the social context in shaping how people negotiate the emotional order of social life. They continue by arguing that this perspective ?emphasises the interpretive processes involved in the social interaction, focusing on how participants receive emotional expression from others and how individuals interacting with one another negotiate that interpretation or meaning? (Robert & Smith, 2002, p. 293) 20 Hochschild (1979) offers a different view by contending that human beings use feeling rules to assess their emotional responses and those of others. Feeling rules are the social norms that prescribe what emotional responses are appropriate within a given situation. Furthermore, Hochschild (1990) maintains that individuals control their emotions so that they conform to the social norms of emotional expression. It is, however, unclear how individuals are able to control these emotions, nor how the emotions come about in the first place. In spite of these suggestions on how to bring emotions into the educative process, discussions of emotions within the classroom context are limited, and do not state exactly what an emotion is, nor how it may affect those within the teaching /learning process. In the next sections I consequently review the different elements of the emotions, as well as the different theories of emotionality. Elements of Emotions Emotions are one of the most complex features of the human psyche. It is generally understood that everyone has them, but very few people can actively put their finger on what emotions are. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (2003) argues that no aspect of our mental life is more important than the emotions, however, the ?sheer variety of phenomena covered by the word ?emotion? and its closest neighbours tends to discourage tidy theory? (p.1). In an attempt to explain emotions, Panksepp (2004, p.127) states, Emotion is a complex set of interactions among subjective and objective factors, mediated by neural/hormonal systems, which can (a) give rise to affective experiences such as feelings of arousal, pleasure/displeasure; (b) generate cognitive processes such as emotionally relevant perceptual effects, appraisals, labelling processes; (c) activate wide-spread physiological adjustments to the arousing conditions; and (d) lead to behaviour that is often, but not always, expressive, goal directed and adaptive. This definition illustrates how complicated the emotions are. The first reason for this is because of the many interlinked processes that occur within an emotion. The definition 21 makes it clear that emotions are seen to be an interaction between an organism?s internal mental states and the external world, and is furthermore mediated by physiological processes. Secondly, the definition above shows that an emotion tends to be intentional. This means that it is caused by an object. The object involved may be internal such as a memory, or it may be caused by an external factor such as a sunset or the frustration a learner may feel in not being able to understand work that s/he feels s/he should be able to. Additionally, an emotion may be stronger or weaker depending on the situation involved, as well as an individual?s perception of the context. This leads to the next factor of the definition which is that emotions cause arousal and physiological adjustments such as an increased heart rate, dilated pupils, goose-bumps and sweaty palms. An interesting factor of the definition is that it considers emotions to be adaptive. Emotions are seen to cause intentional behaviour, motivating the organism to behave in a particular, (usually appropriate) way. In addition to this, by being adaptive, an emotion increases an organism?s chance of survival, as well as the survival of its progeny. In this way it is clear that emotions are multifaceted and have many physiological and mental responses within the individual. An important factor that is related to the abovementioned aspects of emotions is that emotions do not stand apart from other mental processes, and an emotion is itself complex and may contain elements that may be generalised into an emotion, but are separate from it. Panksepp (2004), for instance argues that emotions give rise to affective experiences and feelings. Affect and feelings are two elements of what the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (2003) calls the emotions ?closest neighbours? (p.1). Piaget (1981, p.2) argues that affects includes ?feelings ? as well as the various drives or tendencies (tendances) including ?higher tendencies? such as the will? (Italics in original). He continues by arguing that affectivity often consists of how much intrinsic interest, extrinsic interest, or whether or not there was an initial need at the outset of an individual?s activity. Piaget (ibid, p.3) further asserts that ?perceptual activity, too, involves affective factors such as perceptual choice, pleasant or unpleasant feelings, the affective tonality of indifference, and aesthetic feelings?. In other words, the affective domain includes an individual?s internal and external motivation, as well as one?s mental states while performing an activity. 22 Similarly, Spinoza assumed that affect is the combination of drives, motivations, emotions and feelings (Cited in Damasio, 2004, p.8). This may be contrasted to the contributors of Wikipedia8 (2006) who state that affect is the ?scientific term used to describe a subject?s externally displayed mood?. The author (ibid) continues by stating that the use of the term ?affect? ?grew out of a developing understanding on the part of researchers and clinical psychologists that subjects, including emotionally disturbed ones, could display a mood they were not sincerely feeling?. Heilman and Satz (1986) agree with this opinion and reason that in general, the characteristics ascribed to affect ?emphasise the outward appearance of the inward feeling, with comparatively little association to reason or ideation and a relatively stable and enduring status? (p.114). Heilman and Satz (1984) furthermore argue that instances of observed affect not coinciding with an individual?s mood is well recognised in neurobehaviour. Affect is consequently proposed to be a non-subjective observation of another person?s moods. For most theorists, however, affect may be used interchangeably with moods, feelings and emotions. An interesting point to make about affect, which is considered an element of the emotions, is that if no agreement can be reached on what affect is, how is it possible to have a fully comprehensive concept of the emotions? This research report will later deal with Erikson?s theory of affective development. It is important to note here, that for Erikson, affect is used interchangeably with emotions and feelings, rather than as an externally displayed mood. In order to attempt to understand what emotions are, some theorists (for instance LeDoux, 1996; Damasio, 1994) have studied specific emotions, rather than emotions as a broad, generic entity. In other words, most theorists will choose to study a specific emotion such as fear or anger, rather than look at all of the emotions. LeDoux (1998) argues that the reason for this is that the various classes of emotions are ?mediated by separate neural systems that have evolved for different reasons? (p.16). LeDoux continues by stating that different emotions, such as fear and love, do not have a common origin and furthermore, ?there is no such thing as the ?emotion? faculty and there is no single brain system dedicated to this ? function? (ibid). LeDoux maintains, ?If we are interested in 8 It is understood in this research report that the veracity of Wikipedia as a reference has been called into question. For this reason, I use Wikipedia only for illustrative purposes. 23 understanding the various phenomena that we use the term ?emotion? to refer to, we have to focus on specific classes of emotions. We shouldn?t mix findings about different emotions all together independent of the emotion that they are findings about? (1998, p.16). Emotions may be understood on three levels, those being background emotions, primary (or basic) emotions and secondary (or social) emotions. In addition to this, there are two linked areas in which emotions may be understood. These are basic drives, which are linked to primary emotions, and feelings, which are considered a higher level of secondary emotions (Damasio, 2003). Background Emotions The first level is the level of background emotions. While Damasio (2003) contends that the background emotions are not very prominent in an individual?s behaviour, they are important. Background emotions are made known through body language, facial expressions, and the tone of a person?s voice or the way in which they speak. Background emotions are the consequence of deploying certain combinations of the simpler regulatory reactions (e.g., basic homeostatic processes, pain and pleasure behaviours, and appetites ? Background emotions are composite expressions of those regulatory actions as they unfold and intersect moment by moment in our lives? (Damasio, 2003, p.44). Background emotions tend to be perceived as pleasant or unpleasant (Damasio, 1994), and while they are not the same as a mood, they may be considered in similar terms to a mood. Damasio (1994, pp. 150-151) maintains that the background feeling ?is our image of the body landscape when it is not shaken by emotion. The concept of mood, though related to that of background feelings, does not exactly capture it?. Despite what Damasio (1994; 2003) says about background emotions, it is unknown how much temperament and state of health interact with background emotions, because the necessary investigations have yet to be done (Damasio, 2003). For this reason, the primary 24 emotions are better explained than the background emotions, since there has been more research done on them. Primary Emotions The primary emotions are generally considered universal. This means that they may be observed in most human societies and cultures, as well as in some animal species (Damasio, 2003). Damasio (2003) asserts that most of what is known about the neurobiology of emotions comes from the study of primary emotions. This is because ?these emotions are easily identifiable in human beings across several cultures and in non- human species as well. The circumstances that cause the emotions and pattern of behaviours that define the emotions are also quite consistent across cultures and species (pp.44-45). For this reason it may be possible to use non-human animals to test emotions. LeDoux (1998, p.18) argues that ?since the brain system that generates emotional responses is similar in animals and people, studies of how the brain controls these responses in animals are a pivotal step toward understanding the mechanisms that generate emotional feelings in people?. Because the study of the emotions is difficult for practical and ethical reasons, the experimentation on animals becomes necessary in order to attempt to understand the emotions. The primary emotions are often considered innate and include fear, disgust, surprise, anger and joy (Damasio 2003; Zillmer and Spiers, 2001). These primary emotions are contrasted to secondary emotions because it is assumed that secondary emotions usually occur through learning and experience. They are not considered universal. Zillmer and Spiers (2001) argue that social emotions such as embarrassment, pride, shame, anxiety and so forth are dependent on learning and interaction with cognitive perceptions of the social environment as it pertains to the self. 25 Drives Drives are connected to the primary emotions. Drives are seen as basic, fundamental physical or biological needs that motivate organisms to act according to a self-preserving principle as well as the survival of the species. Panksepp (2004) argues that there are basic emotional feelings ? what he calls ?core emotional systems? (p.126) ? that are driven by basic biological needs such as the need to maintain water balance or energy needs, i.e. the need to quench thirst or eat, as well as the need to procreate. In each of these core emotional systems pleasure is felt when the need is satisfied and displeasure felt when it is left unsatisfied. Panksepp (2004) continues by claiming that these core emotional systems are essential for safety and survival, and assure social support and social continuity within a species. There are seven core emotional systems that ?allow organisms [to] generate adaptive instinctual behaviours during various life-challenging situations? (Panksepp, 2004, p.126). These are the rage system, the fear system, the lust system, the care system, the panic system, the play system and the seeking system. Panksepp (2004) reasons that the rage system is utilised if access to resources are thwarted; the fear system used when bodily well-being is threatened; the lust system employed when the need to procreate arises; the care system comes into play when loving attention is exhibited toward offspring; the panic system applied in feelings of separation distress after losing contact with loved ones; the play system utilised in the boisterous joyousness of rough and tumble playfulness; and the seeking system operates in one?s exploratory activity directed at searching and foraging for resources. Secondary Emotions No definite distinction can be drawn between primary emotions and the drives since the two often overlap and are repeatedly confused with each other. This is not true of secondary (social emotions) and feelings. Damasio (2003) insists that the social emotions include sympathy, embarrassment, shame, guilt, pride, jealousy, envy, gratitude, admiration, indignation and contempt. He states that ?a whole retinue of regulatory reactions along with elements present in primary emotions can be identified as 26 subcomponents of social emotions in varied combinations? (Damasio, 2003, p.45). In order to justify this, Damasio states that one should ?Think of how the social emotion ?contempt? borrows the facial expression of ?disgust,? a primary emotion that evolved in association with the automatic and beneficial rejection of potentially toxic foods? (ibid, pp.45-56). Solms and Turnbull (2002) argue that the secondary emotions tend to be learned reactions, rather than innate reflexes that people have from birth. Feelings As stated earlier, there is a difference between feelings and emotions. According to Damasio (2003), [secondary] emotions are actions or movements. They tend to be public and thus visible in the behaviours of others, as well as in their voices and facial expressions. Feelings, on the other hand, are private, always hidden, and are unable to be seen by anyone but the person in whose brain they occur. Damasio (2003) goes on to explain that emotions ?play out in the theatre of the body?, whereas feelings ?play out in the theatre of the mind? (p.28). He states, Emotions and the host of related reactions that underlie them are part of the basic mechanisms of life regulation; feelings also contribute to life regulation, but at a higher level. Emotions and related phenomena are the foundation for feelings, the mental events that form the bedrock of our minds and whose nature we wish to elucidate. (Damasio, 2003, p. 28) Damasio (2003, p.70) continues by showing how emotions become feelings after having been brain states. He asserts that as thoughts normally causative of emotions appear in the mind, they cause emotions. These emotions give rise to feelings, which conjure up other thoughts that are thematically related and likely to intensify the emotional state. Damasio (2003) reasons that thoughts that are ?conjured up may even function as independent triggers for additional emotions and thus potentiate the ongoing affective state. More emotion gives rise to more feeling, and the cycle continues until distraction or reason put an end to it? (p.70) 27 Damasio (2003) additionally contends that a feeling is an idea, thought or perception of the body being in a certain way. For him, a feeling is the conscious perception of a certain state of the body as well as the perception of a certain mode of thinking and of thoughts with certain themes. He indicates this in his argument that, Feelings arise from any set of homeostatic reactions, not just from emotions-proper. They translate the ongoing life state in the language of the mind. There are different ?body ways? resulting from different homeostatic reactions ? from simple to complex. There are also distinctive causative objects, distinctive consequent thoughts and consonant modes of thinking. (Damasio, 2003, p.85) In other words, Damasio believes that feelings are private states that can only be accessed by the individual feeling them. They occur because during certain homeostatic reactions and emotions, the individual has a perception of his/her thoughts with themes that are enhanced by the perception of the body and the emotions that are occurring. Damasio (2003) reiterates this point by arguing that a feeling occurs when there is a body state that is the essence of the feeling and gives it distinctive content. For him, the altered mode of thinking that accompanies the perception of that essential body state and the sorts of thoughts that thematically agree with the kinds of emotions being felt are what cause the feelings. From the preceding discussion, it is clear that there are many different elements to the emotions, each of which has a considerable influence over an individual?s behaviour and social interaction. The emotions are important in social relations, and as argued above, it is ?common practice for individuals to manage their emotional responses according to the social context?. Thus, learners within a classroom will display certain situation-appropriate emotions. However, when emotions, are such a broad and complicated subject and includes elements such as the primary emotions, drives, secondary emotions and feelings, it is difficult to give an all-encompassing view of learners? emotions within the classroom situation. Furthermore, as will be shown, there are so many different theories of emotions, that it becomes very difficult to provide a fully comprehensive view of the learners? emotions. 28 Theories of Emotions It is essential to look at different theories of emotions in conjunction with the many constituent parts of the emotions, since both of these together may be able to provide an adequate explanation of how the emotions come about and how they may be expressed. This is important in the teaching /learning process since it may allow educators to have a description of how to take the emotions into account in the classroom, as well as being able to understand the genesis of emotions. The following section looks at the neurological approach to the emotions, the behavioural approach to the emotions, the evolutionary approach to emotions, and the conflict theory of emotions. Neurological Approach to the Emotions Damasio (1994, 2003) and LeDoux (1998) are leading theorists in the field of emotion and neurology. Both of these theorists explain emotions as a brain state or neurological process. For LeDoux (1998), an emotion is a subjective state of awareness that occurs because human beings have a certain brain structure, and with those brain structures, individuals are able to receive and process the information passed from the body into the brain. LeDoux (1998) argues that in order to understand emotions, one has to get to the base of what creates emotions. LeDoux maintains that it is not enough to explain the conscious state of an emotion such as fear, but rather, in order to understand an emotion one has to determine the system that detects the fear in the first place. He argues, using the emotion of fear as an example, Fear feelings and pounding hearts are both effects caused by the activity of this system [the system in the brain that detects initial danger], which does its job unconsciously ? literally before we actually know we are in danger. The system that detects danger is the fundamental mechanism of fear, and the behavioural, physiological, and conscious manifestations are the surface responses it orchestrates. (LeDoux, 1998, p.18) There are three primary problems with LeDoux?s views on emotions. The first is that, as argued previously, LeDoux does his experimentation on animals in order to find out about emotions. Elster (1999) argues that when experimenting on animals, the researcher is able 29 to manipulate environmental variables as well as use surgical interventions to modify the physiology of the animal. Elster (1999) states, ?By destroying some organs while preserving others, one can determine the specific physiological pathways involved in some of the main emotional reactions? (p.18). The problem with animal experimentation is that animal physiology is not necessarily the same as human physiology, and the pathways may be different (Elster, 1999). Additionally, as Elster (1999, p.18) reasons, ?the relevance of experimental studies of animals for the study of human emotions is severely limited. Many, perhaps most, human emotions are elicited by beliefs of a complexity beyond what animals are thought to be capable of.? The second problem is that while LeDoux?s theory of emotions allows us to tackle the problems of primary emotions and drives, it does not provide a clear understanding of how we acquire and develop our secondary emotions. LeDoux focuses predominantly on evidence surrounding how we acquire and develop our primary emotions such as fear, anger, joy and disgust, and yet tends to let the secondary emotions and feelings fall by the way-side. As Solms and Turnbull (2002) state, it is more difficult to look for emotions that may be a learned reaction, or the emotions that are more difficult to pinpoint in the brain, such as the secondary emotions and feelings. The last problem involves the question of the genesis of emotions. This is a question often debated in the theory of emotions. It concerns the questions of whether there is an internal feeling of emotions, such as a brain state, and then an expression of the emotion (for example, I laugh because I am happy), or whether, as William James and Carl Lange argue (cited in De Sousa, 2003), people consciously experience emotions as a reaction to physical sensory experience (for example, I am happy because I am laughing). James (1884, p190) thus insisted that ?we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble, and [it is] not that we cry, strike, or tremble, because we are sorry, angry or fearful as the case may be.? A last possibility is that emotions as well as their expression are simultaneous occurrences, as proposed by Walter Cannon and Philip Bard (cited in De Sousa, 2003). Cannon claims that the ?visceral reactions characteristic of distinct emotions such as fear and anger are identical, and so these reactions cannot be what allow us to tell 30 emotions apart? (cited in De Sousa, 2003, p.7) For this reason, Cannon and Bard argue that there is a transmission of signals from the thalamus, which arrives at the cortex and to the autonomic nervous system simultaneously, thus creating the conscious feeling of emotion at the same time as the visceral arousal. LeDoux (1998) subscribes to the latter option, assuming that an emotion is a subjective state of awareness, and only because human beings have a cortex and are able to label emotions and think about them are they able to emote rather than simply react like other animals (cited in Zillmer and Spiers, 2001). LeDoux (1996) argues that certain emotional responses may be ?hard wired? as a protective mechanism, and contends that there are two separate pathways that mediate between sensory signals and fear reactions, and only one of them goes through the sensory cortex, which is the part of the brain that is capable of making cognitive appraisals. The other pathway goes directly from the sensory apparatus to the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that is centrally involved in emotional reactions. The following diagram by LeDoux (1996, p.164) gives a simple visual representation of what LeDoux is attempting to explain in the forthcoming paragraph: Figure 1: Two separate pathways that mediate between sensory signals and fear reactions LeDoux explains the differences between the two pathways in the following passage: 31 Although the thalamic system cannot make fine distinctions, it has an important advantage over the cortical input pathway to the amygdale. That advantage is time. In a rat it takes about twelve milliseconds for an acoustic stimulus to reach the amygdale through the thalamic pathway, and almost twice as long through the cortical pathway. The thalamic pathway ? cannot tell the amygdala exactly what is there, but can provide a fast signal that something dangerous may be there. It is a quick and dirty processing system. Imagine walking through the woods. A crackling sound occurs. It goes straight to the amygdala through the thalamic pathway. The sound also goes from the thalamus to the cortex, which recognises the sound to be a dry twig that snapped under the weight of your boot, or that of a rattlesnake shaking its tail. But by the time the cortex has figured this out, the amygdala is already starting to defend against the snake. The information received from the thalamus is unfiltered and biased toward evoking responses. The cortex?s job is to prevent the inappropriate response rather than to produce the appropriate one. Alternatively, suppose there is a slender curved shape on the path. The curvature and slenderness reach the amygdala from the thalamus, whereas only the cortex distinguishes a coiled up snake from a curved stick. If it is a snake, the amygdala is ahead of the game. From the point of view of survival, it is better to respond to potentially dangerous events as if they were in fact the real thing than to fail to respond. The cost of treating a stick as a snake is less, in the long run, than the cost of treating a snake as a stick. (LeDoux, 1996, p. 163) From the above quote, it is clear that for LeDoux, there is a mental processing that occurs before the brain can work out what the appropriate action is, and for this reason, he concurs with James and Lange in their analysis that the conscious experience of emotion results from the individual?s perception of autonomic arousal (De Sousa, 2003). The problem with this theory is twofold. The research done, as stated earlier, is done on the primary emotions rather than on feelings or secondary emotions. Thus one is able to look at neural pathways leading to the brain because the pathways being studied are obvious and there is an obvious connection. With social emotions and feelings, these neural circuits may not be as observable, and one may not be able to have a clear indication of the simultaneous conscious feeling of emotion and the visceral arousal. The second problem is that, as Schacter and Singer (1962) argue, the different emotions are not always simply physiological, but are often cognitive or something else. They reach this conclusion from an experiment done using epinephrine on human participants. The epinephrine stimulates the sympathetic system. As De Sousa (2003) shows explains, the subjects involved in the experiment tend to interpret the arousal that they experience either as anger or as euphoria, depending on the situation involved. De Sousa (2003) argues that if the emotive content of a situation is one of anger, the subjects tend to show the emotion of anger. Similarly, if the 32 emotive content is one of euphoria, the subject tends to follow suit. This may explain how, within a classroom situation, if there is a classroom discussion the emotive content of a few learners may increase the intensity of the feelings of the rest of the class, creating a heated debate. It also may explain how, if the educator is uninspired by the material being taught, many of the learners in the class may show evidence of boredom. It does not explain, however, how the initial emotion of boredom, happiness, frustration or irritation (depending on the classroom situation) come into being, nor how these emotions may be carried across to other individuals within the circumstance. The Evolutionary Approach and Emotions There are a number of different explanations of emotion that do not necessarily involve the neurology of the brain. These include the evolutionary theories, behavioural theories and theories of conflict. Each of these theories has its merits and shortcomings. The evolutionary approach assumes that emotions are ?adaptations whose purpose is to solve basic ecological problems facing organisms? (De Sousa, 2003, p.6). This approach was adapted from Charles Darwin (1872) who believes that emotions developed because of their adaptive value. The evolutionary theory assumes that natural selection shapes different psychological, social and emotional functions. From this perspective, emotions are essentially innate reactions to stimuli. The evolutionary theory assumes that human beings, as well as most other animals, have the ability for emotions such as fear, anger, surprise, care and other similar primary emotions and drives. These emotions developed in the subcortical brain structures that evolved before the higher brain functions ? associated with complex thought ? evolved (De Sousa, 1999). These emotions ensure the survival of both the individual and the species (Plutchik, 1984). For instance, fear is useful because it instils the flight/fight response in an individual who then has the opportunity for survival in extremely dangerous situations. Evolutionary theorists are inclined to look for the fundamental emotions ? those with innate adaptive value. These include fear, anger, joy, disgust, interest and surprise. Plutchik 33 (1980; 1993) assumes that these fundamental emotions provide the basis for all other emotions. Those emotions that I have previously called "social emotions and feelings", according to Plutchik (1980; 1993), are blends of the fundamental emotions with a variation in intensity. Emotions, for Plutchik (1980; 1993) are structured in terms of their polar opposites, which is why human beings are as likely to cry out of joy as out of sadness. It is also why we have mixed feelings ? we can feel happy and sad at the same time, or loath and adore the same person. Accordingly, there is ambivalence toward emotions: we are vulnerable in every experience of emotion, to experience that emotion?s polar opposite. Plutchik (1980; 1993) also argues that as one?s experience of different emotions become further away from the primary emotions, the intensity of the emotion gets less significant. He argues that each primary emotion has a related emotion that occurs as feelings become less intense. Consequently, according to Plutchik (1993) the primary emotion of grief has the related, but less intense feeling of sadness, which has the related, but less intense feeling of pensiveness. One problem with this theory is that is does not show how emotions develop. Another is that there may not always be a clearly discernable adaptive significance for an emotion. As Elster (1999) points out, some forms of arousal may detract from evolutionary fitness ? these forms of arousal may reduce efficient performance rather than provide it. Elster (1999) argues that there is no necessary reproductive benefit to the emotions that appear to be universal. There are a number of reasons for this conclusion. Firstly, while dispositions and behaviours may have been useful in the ?lower? species where they evolved, they may not necessarily be useful in the ?higher? species that evolved subsequently. Secondly, behavioural dispositions, while once useful, may have lost their usefulness because of changes in the environment. Elster (1999) gives the example of violent emotional behaviour, stating, ?Violent emotional behaviour that may have enabled our remote ancestors to assert their dominance may today lead straight to prison? (p.47). Additionally, fear may cause an individual to flee or it may cause an individual to freeze up in panic, and get hurt by whatever was initially causing the fear. Lastly, Elster (1999, p.47) reasons that ?even when it first evolved, a given emotional disposition may have arisen as a part or by- product of a larger complex?. For instance, he argues that regret and disappointment may 34 not serve any adaptive function; however, they may have once been indistinguishable from hope, which does have useful motivating functions. The Behavioural Approach to Emotions For the abovementioned reasons, it may be argued that evolutionary theorists may not explain emotion as well as they purport to. Hence, it may be useful to look at emotions from a behavioural perspective. The behavioural theory of emotion assumes that every emotion forces the individual to react to the world in specific ways. These reactions are learned responses. There is a nature of reinforcement that determines what future responses an individual will have. Carlson (2004) calls this a ?conditioned emotional response? (p.346), and is generated when a neutral stimulus has been paired with an emotion-producing stimulus. He states that it normally includes autonomic, behavioural and endocrine components such as changes in the heart rate, as well as the freezing or the secretion of stress-related hormones. In this way, the behavioural theory of emotion is able to provide a clear developmental theory of emotions, since it argues that the nature of reinforcement determines that there are future responses, which are the beginning of emotional responses. A major problem with the behavioural perspective of emotions is that it fragments emotions. There are no clear, unifying structural concepts that tie stimulus-response associations together (Weiten, 2001). The stimulus-response associations are not necessarily held within a person?s emotions, to later cause further emotions. The behavioural theory assumes that there is an external stimulus that brings about a reaction, which causes the emotion. However, it does not show how the emotions are linked to the reactions. This theory assumes that emotions occur because of the stimulus; however, there is no obvious internal conscious feeling that results form the stimulus ? only autonomic arousal. There thus needs to be a unifying structure that connects emotions to the stimulus- response patterns. 35 The Conflict Theory of Emotions The behavioural approach may be contrasted to the conflict theory of emotion. Erikson (1963; 1968) provides a conflict theory of personality development which may be discussed in terms of emotional development. The conflict theory of emotions assumes that emotions are created through a moral or emotional battle within the individual. This conflict may arise due to a disparity between the individual and societal pressures and norms, or it may occur because of different elements of the individual. Erikson (1963) provides a comprehensive indication of how emotions may be seen within the classroom at different stages of a child?s development. This is because Erikson observes that emotions may be due to social incidences as well as internal struggles. It is clear within the Eriksonian theory that society provides and maintains a clear indication of what is expected by individuals at certain periods of their lives and within certain circumstances. Erikson is able to deal with this because he attributes affective development to two areas. The first is a struggle between the individual and his /her battle to partake in society and the events that proceed around him /her. The second assumes that the emotions are due to the individual?s internal battle to maintain his or her individuality in society. Erikson proposes a theory of affective development. He argues that there are social and personal crises that each human being goes through that are conducive to growth. Maier (1988, p. 77) states, For Erikson, affective development revolves around people?s ongoing struggle to achieve a power though which they can partake of rather than be left out by the sweep of events going on in their particular space and time in history; affective development denotes an affirmation of a person?s individuality within his or her social reality. It may consequently be seen that, Erikson developed a conflict-based model of emotional development. Emotions, for Erikson, occur during an internal struggle within the individual in which the individual attempts to assert his /her place in society. Erikson 36 postulates eight psychosocial stages that need to be experienced in order for an individual to find his/ her place in the world. It is important to be aware that Erikson argues that growth ?occurs in a regular and sequential fashion, moving in an orderly and cumulative manner from one developmental stage to the next, until each part of the individual has developed? (Hook, Watts & Cockcroft, 2002, p.276). The eight stages are: trust versus mistrust; autonomy versus shame and doubt; initiative versus guilt; industry versus inferiority; identity versus role confusion; intimacy versus isolation; generativity versus stagnation and integrity versus despair. Each stage assumes that there is a conflict that needs to be overcome. If this conflict is conquered, the individual is able to move on to the next phase of development. However, if the conflict is not adequately or unsuccessfully dealt with, the individual will not move on to the next phase and will need to deal with the inherent problems of the current phase in order to effectively move on with his /her life. The triumph over the conflict at any given phase will allow the individual the opportunity to experience emotions that are inherent to that phase of the individual?s development. For instance, in the phase, Basic Trust versus Mistrust, the sense of trust helps a child to grow psychologically and face new experiences willingly. Furthermore, each successful outcome of a child?s trust tends to produce favourable expectations of new situations (Maier, 1988). This may be contrasted to the unsuccessful resolution of the internal conflict. For instance, in Basic Trust versus Mistrust, when there are unsatisfactory physical experiences, the child will tend to feel frustrated and often lack hope in re-attempting to try gaining the desired change. These polar opposites may be seen in each of Erikson?s phases. For instance, during the second phase of Erikson?s affective development, Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt9, which lasts from approximately twelve months to three years, there is an increase in the mobility and self-regulation of bodily functions (such as ?potty-training?) in a child, leads to an increase of self-reliance, self-confidence and a greater sense of accomplishment. These in turn lead to an increase of independence and autonomy. However, if the self- 9 I have chosen to elaborate on only two of Erikson?s stages in this report as an exemplar of the notion of psychological conflicts, and in order to show that these conflicts have resultant emotions that are concomitant with them. 37 regulation and mobility is unsuccessfully executed (such that the infant is denied the gradual and directed experience of free choice and autonomy), it leads to a sense of self- doubt, shame and extreme self-consciousness (Hook, Watts & Cockcroft, 2002). While the conflict theory of emotions provides an understanding of the different affects that occur within the different phases of an individual?s lifetime, it may be considered problematic because it relies on speculation and interpretation (Louw, 1991). Another problem is that it covers emotions fairly superficially and does not look at the varied emotions that occur within all stages of the individual?s life, and may not give an adequate understanding of how emotions may come about before or after the appropriate stage has occurred. Each emotional theory provided above has its own strengths and weaknesses, however, none of them offer a conclusive theory of the emotions. The different theories of the emotions, rather than helping educators in the classroom, may hinder them because of the fact that there are so many different theories and none of them are irrefutable. For this reason, it is important to look at how other theorists have perceived emotions within the classroom situation. Problems with regard to taking Emotions into Account in the Classroom In the above chapter I have attempted to look at the emotions in their entirety. In order to do this I have looked at the different theories of emotions in the classroom, the different elements of the emotions in each individual and the many different theories of emotions. However, it does not give a clear indication of the following problems that are involved in the teaching and learning process. The first problem is that while the theories given within the classroom situation may afford some guidance to the educator, this guidance is negligible. The theories do not give a practical or realistic explanation on how to take the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process. 38 Second, the discussions of emotion within the classroom context are limited (look at the discussion in the first subsection of this chapter) and for this reason are not realistic in providing an extensive view of the emotions in the classroom. The third problem I foresee is that since there are so many different elements to an emotion (look at the discussion contained in the second subsection above), it is difficult to have an educator feeling competent in taking this element of the whole child into account. The last problem arises because there are so many different and distinct theories of emotions, and none of these theories give a conclusive understanding of what the emotions are how they come about. This is shown in the plethora of theories of emotions (look at discussion covered in the third subsection of this chapter), each of which have their strengths and limitations. However, despite the surplus of emotional theories, as well as the research on the different components of the emotions, there is nothing that allows the educator to come closer to teaching and assessing the emotions as a fundamental part of the holistic development of the learner. Conclusion As can be seen from the above chapter, the emotions, as a paradigmatic instance of holism, are a broad subject. Furthermore, because emotions play such a critical role in the educational process, this chapter deals with emotions in their entirety. In order to do this, the notion of emotions within schools was dealt with, by discussing constructivism and the emotions, as well as how constructivism is linked with ?attribution?, ?locus of control? and ?flow?. Emotional management was also examined as a theory of emotions in the classroom. However, in order to elucidate what emotions are, and how they come about, the rest of this chapter deals with these two topics. In order to explore the complexity emotions, it was important to look at the different theories of what emotions are, and then finally to look at how different theorists have speculated that emotions come about. 39 Having looked at the theories of emotions and the complexities of the emotions, I continue by looking at the practical implications of taking the emotions into account within the classroom situation. In the following chapter, I link the above discussion with the practice of educators in the classroom by discussing the research methods that I used in my research, followed by which I expand on interviews held with both educators, in six different high schools in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, and three lecturers educating at the University of the Witwatersrand. 40 Chapter Three Research Methods and Data Analysis Introduction This Chapter is divided into two sections. The first section considers the research methods adopted for this research. The research methods utilised in this research was that of the interview. During the research I interviewed six educators and three lecturers who are in the field of teacher education. Both the lecturers and the educators concerned are involved specifically in the area of Life Orientation since this appears to be the learning area in which the emotions and holism are overtly discussed. The research method is followed by the second section which provides the presentation and analysis of the interviews conducted with the educators and lecturers who are in the discipline of Life Orientation. Aims of Research 1. To investigate whether educators feel competent to teach and assess emotions in the teaching /learning process. Hypothesis 1: Educators feel incompetent in teaching and assessing emotions in the teaching /learning process. 2. To investigate whether the training received by educators has increased their feelings of competence pertaining to teaching and assessing emotions in the classroom. Hypothesis 2: Educators feel that the training that they have received has not helped them in their abilities to teach and assess emotions in the classroom. 41 3. To investigate whether teacher trainers feel proficient in teaching emotions to prospective educators. Hypothesis 3: Teacher trainers do not feel adept in teaching emotions to prospective educators. 4. To investigate whether teacher trainers feel that it is practical for educators to teach and assess emotions in the classroom. Hypothesis 4: Teacher trainers do not feel that it is practical for educators to teach and assess emotions in the classroom. Research Method The researcher adopted a qualitative approach to the research. This type of research, according to Hammersley, Gomm and Woods (2001) is an ideal method when in-depth investigation is needed. This approach allows the participants? perspectives to be emphasised while providing an in-depth description and understanding of the participants and events within the specific context Sample Six Life Orientation teachers10 from public schools in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg were selected for this research. These educators ranged in age from approximately twenty four to fifty years. Their range of experience in the area of Life Orientation, guidance, physical education and /or religious studies is quite large since the educators have between two and thirty years of experience. Of the six educators who participated in this research, five of them were teaching Life Orientation, and one had moved from Life Orientation and guidance to being the school counsellor. This educator had completed approximately twenty years of experience in guidance and Life Orientation. 10 For tabulated demographic data of the six L.O teachers, look on page 47 42 The second sample consisted of three lecturers11 who lecture Life Orientation at the University of the Witwatersrand12 (Henceforth known as Wits). All of the lecturers were awarded their degrees through either Wits University or got diplomas through what used to be known as the Johannesburg College of Education. The lecturers concerned have been teaching their discipline for between four and twenty five years, and are now involved in the area of Life Orientation. Each lecturer focused on a specific aspect of Life Orientation, i.e. personal well-being or what used to be called guidance, physical education and health promotion, and the social development and religion studies. The reason for choosing, and comparing, the two different samples of participants is to illustrate the practical difficulties of taking the holistic development of learners into account within the teaching /learning process, while simultaneously addressing the difficulties experienced by teacher-trainers when attempting to prepare prospective educators in being proficient in taking more than the cognitive dimensions of the learner into account within the teaching/learning process. Method of Data Collection Interviews The attraction of the interview is that it is a ?two way process which allows you to interact with the informant(s), thus facilitating a more probing investigation than could be undertaken with a questionnaire? (Hammersley et al, 2003, p. 170). The researcher conducted interviews, using a schedule with both open and closed questions, with the four lecturers teaching Life Orientation (See Appendix 1). Similarly, the researcher conducted interviews with the six Life Orientation educators selected using a similar interview schedule containing both open and closed questions (See Appendix 1). 11 In this research ?Teacher Trainers? and ?Lecturers? are used interchangeably. 12 For tabulated demographic data of the three L.O lecturers, look on page 73 43 Yin (1994) argues that the use of open ended questions makes it possible for the researcher to ask for the informants? opinions on the events being studied and so minimise the imposition of pre-determined responses when gathering data. The use of closed questions in this research report is primarily for demographic and personal information. Research Process The researcher conducted interviews with the six Life Orientation teachers to ascertain how these educators took cognisance of the ?whole child? and his/her emotions, and whether they felt competent ? on account of the training that they have received ? to take the ?holistic development of learners? into account. The three university-based lecturers were interviewed in order to gain an insight into their views of the ability of the lecturers to train the different aspects of holism such that the prospective educators are able to teach the non-cognitive aspects of the learners. The interviews also discuss the ability of educators in schools taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process, and the assessment of this area of the learners? development. The interviews for both the lecturers and the Life Orientation educators were recorded with their permission. Each interview took approximately 30 minutes Methods of Analysis A thematic content analysis was used as the method of analysis. The purpose of a thematic content analysis is to examine the themes that emerge from the interviews. This method of comparison may be attributed to the British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-18730) who?s ?method of agreement and method of difference forms the basis of analytical comparison in qualitative data analysis? (Neuman, 1997, p.428. Italics in original). The method of agreement focuses the researcher?s attention on commonalities across different cases or different participants (Neuman, 1997). The method of difference may be used 44 alone or in conjunction with the method of agreement. Neuman (1997, p. 429) explains this when he states ?A researcher first locates cases that are similar in many respects but differ in a few crucial ways?. This method reinforces information from positive cases, or cases with common causal features, with negative cases, or those cases that lack the outcome and causal features. Coolican (1999) argues that in addition to the method of agreement and method of difference, one can look at similarities and differences in terms of the dimensions along which people or their opinions may vary. Participant?s views and opinions may range on a scale from severe to moderate or lax. The participant?s position on the scale is determined by the specific reasons given. This method of analysis allowed the researcher to gain an insight into how the lecturers and educators engage with the sense of the ?whole child?, as well as whether or not they felt adequate to deal with the ?holistic development of learners?. The focus of the thematic content analysis is, specifically, what is understood by the lecturers and educators about teaching the ?whole child? as well as the ?holistic development of learners?; how the lecturers and educators understand the assessment of the ?whole child?; the assessment tools available in order to take the ?whole child? into account, and the problems that the lecturers and educators see in implementing the policy in the classrooms. Analysis In this section I focus on the answers given by the school-based educators within the interviews with regard to their possible and practical means to taking both the holistic development of the learner into account, as well as taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. I also delve into the problems experienced by educators in attempting to take more than the cognitive elements of the learner into account, as well as the difficulties in attempting to assess more than the cognitive elements of the child in the classroom situation. I then look at the responses given by the lecturers in their interviews, looking at the problems that the lecturers deal with in trying to teach prospective teachers how to look at 45 the learner holistically. This chapter also looks at the problems that the lecturers foresee in attempting to teach the prospective students how to look at more than the cognitive elements of the learner, as well as problems in assessment in this area of their teaching. Reactivity of Research Welman and Kruger (2001) state that research participants ?do not approach experimental situations as passive, neutral beings? (p.107). Participants interpret and attach meaning to situations. Since the participants are likely to be affected by the different aspects of the research, their reactions to the research may influence the results of their answers. It is important to note that there is the possibility of this in the answers of the participants during the interviews. For instance, as Welman and Kruger (2001) argue, ?If the research participants are familiar with the research hypothesis, they may consciously or unconsciously act in such a manner that their behaviour facilitates the confirmation of the hypothesis? (p.108). Furthermore, subjects may regard the researcher as an expert and for this reason may provide responses which they feel will reflect positively on them. As the Masters Programme in Education (2003) states, this is not because the participant is deceitful, but ?that they will provide you with the version of the information that they think is appropriate?. While this bias is unavoidable, it is important to recognise it within the interview process. Limitations Because the sample used was a convenience sample, it may not be possible to be generalised to the broader population. This may be because, as Sober (1995) argues, characteristics of individuals that are not in a sample may not correspond to those within the sample, and the larger the sample, the more probability of agreement on the issues that are being discussed. (Wellman & Kruger, 2001; Sober, 1995) 46 The halo effect may have also had an effect on the individuals being interviewed. This is when the interviewer may bias what is said by the interviewee because of favourable or unfavourable characteristics of the person being interviewed (Welman & Kruger, 2001). The last limitation concerns the fact that the researcher was unable to interview prospective students that have gone through the Life Orientation course at university recently. Because these students have had the benefit of recently participating in the Life Orientation courses at university, they may have concerns or beliefs about the adequacy of the tertiary education courses with regard to taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. Ethical Considerations A number of ethical considerations were adhered to during the course of this study, as well as during the interviews. An information letter was given to all of the participants who partook in this study which stated the name, and contact details of the researcher, as well as the purpose of the research. No deception was used in the course of this study. No identifying information, such as the participants? names or ID numbers were asked for, and so the information of each participant remains confidential. In addition to this, no questions were asked that invaded the privacy of the participants in terms of their beliefs, background or behaviour Furthermore, it was stated clearly verbally, as well as on the consent form of all of the participants, that participation was completely voluntary, and no person participating in the research would be advantaged or disadvantaged in any way for choosing to participate in the interviews. Additionally, each participant was informed that they should discontinue participation at any time should they feel uncomfortable with the questions or the interview generally. Should they choose to do so, there would be no penalty or loss of benefits. 47 Permission was asked of all participants ? both verbally and written ? to record the interview, as well as for the use of direct or indirect quotes of what was said during the interview. The interview transcripts were not seen by any other person at the university at any time, and were processed only by the researcher. Results: School-based Participants Teacher Gender Qualification Institution Years of Teaching Experience B Female B A Hons (Psychology) PGCE13 UJ14 UJ 2 Years H Female M Ed UNISA15 Approximately 20 Years Q Female M Ed Dip UNISA JCE16 Approximately 35 Years G17 Female M Ed Wits Approximately 35 Years R Female B A Hons RAU Approximately 10 Years T Female B A Hons Wits 5 Years Table 1: Participant Profile: School-based Participants All of the school-based educators who were interviewed were women, who had between two and thirty five years of experience in teaching. Half of the participants had been awarded an honours degree from their respective institutions, while the other half had been awarded a masters in education. Three of the six school-based educators had majored in psychology or educational psychology at a post-graduate level. One of the educators had majored in psychology at an undergraduate level, and the last two educators did not specify what they had majored in at a tertiary level. 13 PGCE: Post-graduate Certificate in Education 14 The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been re-constituted from the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), since UJ came about after the amalgamation of RAU with a number of Johannesburg Technicons. 15 UNISA: University of South Africa 16 JCE: What was formally known as Johannesburg College of Education, now part of the Wits Education Campus 17 Participant G works in a small specialised Governmental school 48 1. Have you participated in or facilitated training outside of your school or university environment? Teacher L.O. Training Workshops For Whom? Where? B Yes GDE Limpopo H Yes GDE Limpopo & other training programmes situated in Johannesburg Q Yes GDE Limpopo & other training programmes situated in Johannesburg G Yes GDE Limpopo & other training programmes situated in Johannesburg R Yes Facilitator as well GDE Limpopo T Yes GDE Limpopo Table 2: Participation by participants in training workshops or programmes18 All of the participants in this group had participated in training within the field of Life Orientation provided by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). Participant R had been asked to be one of the facilitators in the GDE Life Orientation training. The participants? views on this training varied from enjoyment to frustration. R, who acted as a facilitator, appeared to enjoy the training the most. She said that she enjoyed it tremendously but that it was more challenging than in previous years when she had ?simply been participating in the training programmes?. Furthermore, she felt that it was well- prepared and exciting and that the training provided a ?holistic view? on how to educate the learners. Despite prompting, however, R did not elaborate on what she meant by the term ?holistic view?. There may be a number of reasons for this. For instance, she may have felt inadequate to give a definition on what she meant by the term ?holistic view?. Alternatively, she may have not known the answer she had assumed that the researcher would like to hear, and would reflect positively on her response (see Reactivity of Research, p.45). Alternatively, she may not have wanted to delve into this area of her understanding, or have not understood the prompting correctly. 18 NB. The use of tables is for purely summative reasons and should not be construed in terms of simple responses. 49 The views of the other participants varied. Participant H felt that the training in L.O. was good, but that the course material was insufficient, while both Interviewees B and Q felt that the facilitators did not have a proper grasp of the curriculum and policy. Subject H stated that the training was well planned and well executed. She reasoned, ?I thought that [the training programme] was very good. I thought it had been planned very well indeed?. For Subject H, however, the two primary problems were that the type of training did not suit all educators, and that the course material was not adequate for a democratic South Africa. She stated that the courses suited those who are less well qualified but tends to be below the level of better-educated and better-qualified educators. She reinforced this by saying, ?When you have a very well resourced, well educated, competent pool of people like from our school that go to training like that, the level of training is below where they are?. She also stated, ?I think in terms of being a teacher who doesn?t know what?s going on, who needs to be baby sat, I think that those courses are fantastic?. Accordingly, for Participant H, the training is better for educators who are less well qualified and do not have as good a basis in the National Curriculum Statement. Additionally, Participant H claimed that the course material was sub-standard and may be considered anachronistic in the new South Africa. The resource pack for L.O. contained materials from the ?old TED19 days?, and contains material on, for example sexuality which was done from a Christian focus, which was the old YP20, you know, that your body is the temple of God, and a lot of Christian quotes and so on. They started off the conference with a discussion on inclusivity, and you know, social justice and multiculturalism and everything. And yet they provide material that is actually offensive to a lot of people?. Respondents B, Q, G and T felt that the training programmes were insufficient and the facilitators unprepared. Subject B stated, ?A lot of the educators are not trained ? When we went on training, my instructor didn?t even know the learning outcomes for Life Orientation?. Respondent T also felt that the facilitators were unprepared and did not know the learning outcomes in Life Orientation. Subject Q agreed with both B and T, 19 TED: Transvaal Education Department 20 YP: Youth Preparedness 50 maintaining, ?I did some training with Wits University. We went up to Limpopo and we trained teachers in the Further Education and Training in Life Orientation. I was then subjected to the same training here for Gauteng for grade 11 and 12. It was the same base of knowledge that I used up in Limpopo. I knew more than the lady that was actually delivering [the training]. There were two of us there that literally took over and trained the staff members?. Participant G stated that the training for L.O. in 2006 was better than previous years, since she ?actually got an inspector for [her] level who actually did seem to know what he was talking about?. From the above discussion, it is evident that the majority of participants involved did not feel that the training provided by the GDE was sufficient. The facilitators tended to be uninformed and unprepared, and the material outdated. This leads to the next question of whether the training in L.O. prepared the participants to take the emotions into account. 2. Has your education and training prepared you to take the Emotions of the learner into account? Teacher Are you prepared to take emotions into account with regard to training received? B No, but learned through experience and Honours in Psychology H No Q No, but learned through experience G No, but learned through experience in a small class R No T No Table 3: Perceived adequacy of educators in attempting to take emotions into account with regard to training received None of the responses by any of the school-based participants indicated that they felt particularly prepared by the education and training that they have received in the area of Life Orientation and /or guidance. However, a number of the participants indicated that most of their familiarity with taking the emotions into account has come with experience. For instance, Respondent B stated, ?I can honestly say that in a PGCE (Post-graduate Certificate in Education) course at the University of Johannesburg, no [I don?t feel 51 prepared to take the holistic development of learners into account in my teaching practice]. Luckily I have an honours in Psych. So that equipped me a lot better. And then obviously experience. In the two years that I?ve been here, I?ve probably learnt more than in my whole university career. They didn?t prepare me in the PGCE course at all ? They did prepare me to do a mark sheet and other teacher-things. But in terms of the emotional side of how you handle yourself in the environment, and how you deal with kids and their issues and things like that, I think it comes with experience?. Similarly, Respondent Q stated, ?No, we didn?t really go into the emotional side very well at all. Certainly there was a little bit in the research that I?d done while I was in UNISA. But you learn an awful lot more from actual interaction. It?s a gut feel?. Subject G argued that she had not been taught how to take the holistic development of learners into account, however, she has had experience in a small private school and because of the small classes, she was able to get to know the children. It is evident from the respondents? answers above that none of the educators felt competent in taking the emotions into account with regards to the training received. However, they felt that it may be possible to do so with more experience. Do you think it is possible to take the emotions of learners into account in the classroom? Teacher Possible to take Emotions into Account? Factors inherent in taking emotions into account? B Yes but problematic ? Teachers not adequately trained ? Not enough time allocated to L.O. H Yes A good teacher will always take the whole child into account Q Yes but problematic Easier to take more than cognitive for children who open up to you [the educator] G Yes Did not elaborate R Yes L.O. takes emotions into account ? it is the purpose of L.O. T Yes but problematic ? Too many different children in each class ? Too many classes Table 4: Participant?s views on taking whole child into account in teaching /learning process 52 The views of the respondents with regard to taking the holistic development of the learners and the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process varied. All of the respondents felt that it was possible to take the emotions into account; however there are various factors which come into play in attempting to deal with the whole child in the classroom. One participant, R, felt that Life Orientation is very good because it is designed to take the holistic development of learners into account. She stated, ?We go into the emotional, the spiritual, the physical and the intellectual sides of the child. We address those. I think that?s well done in L.O.?. However, despite the researcher?s encouragement on the topic, Respondent R did not elaborate on how it is possible to take these different elements of the child into account in the classroom situation. Subject H argued that the emotions have always been taken into account on an informal level, especially by good teachers. She stated, ?By getting to know your children, you know them in all their domains ? their intellectual domain, the academic, the social, the emotional?. Subjects B, T and Q felt that while the idea of taking the holistic development of the learner into account is very good in theory, there are practical implications which make it difficult. Subject B argued, ?In theory it?s a wonderful idea ? [However], I don?t think that the teachers are trained and equipped to deal with the learners holistically?. B also reasoned that there are ?three lessons every ten days that are allocated to Life Orientation. You?re telling me that in an hour and a half I?m meant to holistically develop a learner? It?s not going to happen?. Additionally, Participant T stated that the teachers try very hard to take the holistic development of learners into account, by learning about their backgrounds and special needs. However, because there are so many children with difficulties and remedial problems in the average school, many teachers are just battling every day to stay in control of their classrooms. Subject Q also felt that taking the different elements of the learner into account in the teaching /learning process is difficult, since she claimed, ?I think it?s contentious because yes for some [learners] because they open up to you. Those that are closed and you don?t 53 get to them, um, many times one actually doesn?t even know?. Consequently for Q, taking the holistic development of the learner into account is dependent on the child and his /her ability to open up to the educator. However, for Q, the new Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum makes an enormous difference in taking the holistic development of learners into account when it is dealt with properly. This is because the FET curriculum and Outcomes Based Education (OBE) is a bottom-up, rather than top- down method, and so the learners emotions, feelings and values are being taken into account far more now than in previous days when the curriculum was top-down. In this way, all of the respondents interviewed felt that it is possible to take the holistic development of learners into account in the teaching /learning process, however, not all of the educators elaborated on how this is possible. One reason for this is simply because the participants did not know how to take the emotionality of the child into account. Another reason is that because emotions are so inherent in everyday life, the participants did not feel the need to elaborate on what they meant. Those who do feel that it is possible to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning proves felt that there are factors that come into play, such as the size of the classes, the difficulty that the teachers have in attempting to stay in control of their classes, the time allocated to Life Orientation every week, and the lack of training provided to the educators to take this area of the child?s development into account. 54 4. Do you think that it is possible for educators of subjects other than Life Orientation to take the emotions into account in the educative process? What factors play a role in this? Teacher Can educators in subjects other than L.O. take the emotions into account? Factors allow educators to take the emotions into account? B Yes ? The subject being taught ? Training in Psychology or Counselling H Yes The subject being taught Q Yes ? The subject being taught ? The Educator concerned G Yes The subject being taught R Yes The subject being taught T Yes ? The subject being taught ? Training in Psychology or Counselling Table 5: Ability for Non- Life Orientation Educators taking the emotions into account The participants interviewed all felt that it is possible for non-Life Orientation educators to take the emotions into account in the classroom; however, there were two primary factors that needed to be considered. These factors being, the educator him /herself, and the subject being taught. All of the interviewees felt that those subjects that are more maths /science orientated tend to be independent of the emotions. Participant H argued that ?some types of subjects lend themselves more to an interactive process?. These subjects include English, Art and Life Orientation, whereas Maths and Science, for example, have much less time for a similar amount of emotional interaction. The reason for the notion that subjects such as Maths and Science are less geared toward taking the emotions into account may be because the subject content appears to be objective and the emotions are thus seen to have little or no role to play in the subject matter. The second factor that contributes to the educator taking the emotions into account is that of the educators themselves. As Q stated, ?Some people are just more capable of dealing with difficult learners than others. And you have to respect that?. Two of the participants, T and B, argued that training in psychology or counselling skills helped prepare educators in taking the emotions into account. T argued that any teacher can take the emotions into 55 account; however, most teachers have not had the training to allow them to see that emotional problems and emotional outbursts are a symptom of a bigger picture, and so this negative behaviour ?may be treated incorrectly?. She continued by reasoning that most teachers without training do not look at the reasons behind a learner?s disruptive behaviour in class, however, ?If you?ve been trained, if you?ve had any form of training whatsoever ? you?re going to look at [emotional outbursts or negative behaviour] and say, why? Why is the child behaving the way the child is behaving?? Participant B agreed with this view. She stated, ?If [the educators] have no background in psychology or counselling skills or things like that, it?s very difficult for them.? 5. In terms of the classroom situation, if you have a child showing signs of socially unacceptable behaviour, do you think that you can take account their emotional and holistic needs but still discipline them? Teacher Discipline Factors that influence emotion-based discipline? B Important ? Behavioural problems are an indication of greater problems within the learner ? Need more teacher training ? Younger ?New Age teachers better prepared to take the emotions into account when disciplining learners H Important ? Behavioural problems are an indication of greater problems within the learner ? Need more teacher training Q Important Did not elaborate G Important Did not elaborate R Important Older educators better prepared to discipline children. Little mention of how emotions come into discipline process T Important Behavioural problems are an indication of greater problems within the learner Table 6: Factors that Influence Emotion-Based Discipline While none of the respondents answered this question directly, all of the participants agreed that disciplining learners is important. Three of the participants, B, T and H, however, believed that behavioural problems are an indication of a greater problem. Respondent B stated, ?I think that most teachers do realise that a child does not exist in isolation. They come into the classroom with their problems. They don?t leave their 56 problems at the door and come into the classroom and now they?re fully yours, and they?re going to be fully dedicated and committed, because you?re the teacher and they?re here to learn. Just like educators come into the classroom with all their baggage?. Participant T agreed with this and asserted, ?I think when you?re under pressure and over stressed, truant behaviour is dealt with in a totally disciplinarian form, and you don?t really take into consideration that the child might be having an off-day or is experiencing other problems. I think that is not because it?s intentional. And we do ? we punish the kids, we punish them, and then once they?ve been punished you go to them and start speaking to them, you realise that ?hey, there?s actually a hell of a lot going on?, and as soon as you start showing interest in them and their problems, their behaviour improves?. Participant H continued this sentiment as she reasoned, ?A child who?s had an emotional outburst in the classroom is obviously under a lot of stress. So we need to find the source of that stress and see how we can help that child?. Subject R also felt that behavioural problems can be traced to emotional problems, and after looking at the deeper emotional problems, it is easier to look at the child ?holistically? and to help them deal with the conflict that they are going through. Two of the interviewees, B and H felt that with more teacher-training, educators might be better equipped and focused to deal with learners holistically. B argued, ?Maybe if teachers were trained more in how they approach a disciplinarian situation, and understand their children a little bit better, that could solve a part of the problem in dealing with the learner holistically?. Subject H continued this sentiment when she asserted, ?We?ve tried to skill our teachers to deal with confrontation in the classroom?. Interestingly, while Subject B felt that it is easier for what she called, ?new age teachers? to take the emotions and the whole child into account in the classroom, R felt that the older teachers are more able to discipline their children. R stated, ?I think it?s easier ? especially for the older teachers who, sort of, are firm about what?s acceptable. They?re more firm about what is expected of them?. Subject B considered ?new age teachers? able to discipline their children by getting to know the children and what ?baggage? they?re bringing into the classroom. This is unlike Participant R who appeared to feel that in order 57 to discipline a child, you need to challenge their behaviour and find out what in the behaviour is useful in getting what the learner wants. Participant R stated, ?I take that behaviour, [and] challenge [the learners] as to how [that behaviour] works for them?. While their approach to discipline may substantially differ, both of these educators felt that discipline may help educators understand their learners, including their learners? emotions and needs. When the learner comes from a stable environment and knows what is expected from him/her, s/he is more able to tell the educator when there are problems outside of the classroom, and potential emotional problems can be dealt with accordingly. Through discipline each educator is more able to find out the reasons behind a learner?s actions. 6. Programmes or ideas in helping the school take the emotional aspect into account: Teacher Programmes Designed? Premises for Programmes B Yes ?Family Groups? ? Learners separated into groups and discuss issues, including morals, manners, and topics of interest. H Yes ? Christian groups help when learners are struggling or need friends ? Class representatives discuss emotional issues with the educators ? Computer programme keeps records of children and their status Q Tried and failed for administrative reasons G Yes Work with learners? families and try to keep the families informed R Not on formal level T Not on formal level Table 7: Programmes designed to take the emotions into account The majority of the participants (Subjects B, H, Q and G) had attempted some sort of programme in order for the school to look at the learner holistically, however not all of the programmes had been a success. All of the programmes or ideas identified by the participants revolved around attempting to look at the child as a unique individual. As Interviewee B stated, ?I think, as a school of this size, I mean, we?ve got 1500 kids in the school? its huge! And [the programme is] how we?re trying to now close the gap?. 58 Participant B had organised what she called a ?family group?, in which all of the learners from grade eight to twelve had been divided into ?family unit discussion groups?. The educators in the school took on the role of the ?mommy? or ?daddy?, and the learners in the group became ?siblings?. On the learner?s first meeting with the family discussion group, they filled out a confidential learner profile, which included ?fun things like, ?what?s my nickname? What?s my hobby? What?s my family life like? Do I struggle to concentrate??? The family group then met twice weekly to discuss various topics or themes, for instance, values, courtesy, and any issues that the learners wanted to discuss. Respondent B stated that they were ?working on [the learner?s] holistic development?, since the educators may now know where a child is ?coming from? when s/he has emotional problems in class, because the educator is able to discuss problems with the learners such as familial problems or girlfriend/boyfriend problems or sexuality and so forth. B stated, ?So now, when you look at that child, you have a better idea of where that child?s coming from. So your approach might be different?. B also felt that this system was good for both the learner and the educator, since each learner had a ?family system? to which s/he could be held accountable. Participant H had put many different programmes into place in order to help take the emotions into account in the learners. H argued that since the school in which she worked had a very strong Christian foundation, the Christian groups helped new learners and learners who are having trouble finding or keeping friends. In addition to this, H stated that the class representatives were important in getting to know the emotional sides of the learners in the classes. H stated, ?If a register teacher gets to know the kids in the morning and then the class rep discusses class issues, which are largely emotional issues. Um ? they will take class votes or whatever, so that the register teacher gets to hear about the frustrations or hurts or whatever that the children feel. Things they want changed?. Another way that Participant H stated in which her school takes the emotional sides of the learners into account, is through a computer programme which keeps records of every child. Only the senior educators have access to these records, however the findings of these computer records get put into the learners? report cards at the end of every term so 59 that parents and guardians may be kept up to date. In the aforementioned computer programme, every time a learner gets good marks, s/he got rewarded. The learners are also rewarded for participating in sporting and /or cultural activities, getting to school and class on time and so forth. The computer programme is also beneficial in helping the educators keep a continuous record on ?naughty? children. For instance, if a child is caught with a weapon at school, that goes onto his /her record. If they have been involved in physical fights that goes onto their record, as does smoking, drinking or taking narcotics at school. Participant G argued that the best way that she felt to take the emotions into account is to try to work with the learner?s families and to keep the families of the learners informed. This way, the families of the learners? are able to participate in the emotional development of the children in the school. The above three interviewees may be contrasted to Participant Q who argued that she found three primary problems with these programmes when she attempted to administer them in her school: The first problem is that the programmes tend to be subjective ? they often depend on how the educator feels about a particular child, or how the educator is feeling on any given day. The second is that the administration of these programmes becomes tedious. She argued that if you are filling out forms for every child in the school, with thirty or more questions per form, it becomes ?very unwieldy?, and the educators tend to lose patience with the forms. The last problem is that emotional or holistic development is often substituted with general questions about behaviour. For instance, Q stated that the programme that was attempted in her school was a questionnaire with more than thirty points which asked questions like, ?Are you participating in my lesson? Do you hand in your homework on time? Is your work neat and tidy?? Q argued that the reason that those kinds of questions became important is because they were the questions that an educator could put a value to. It is much more difficult to put a mark or value onto emotions the non-cognitive, non-physical aspects of a learner?s development. It is clear from the answers above that while many educators are attempting to take the emotions into account within their schools, there are inherent problems. These problems 60 include the fact that there is subjectivity on the part of the educator which makes taking the emotions of the learners into account difficult, the administration becomes difficult, and the educators often substitute the emotions with more practical and observable behavioural patterns. Another problem which may be noted in the response from Participant H above is that the emotions that are observed at school are often the negative emotions that can be detected through ?naughty? behaviour or children not fitting in with other learners, rather than the positive emotions such as happiness which should be inherent in the classroom situation. 7. Do you think that it is possible to assess more than the cognitive side of the learner, such as the emotions? Teacher Possible to assess emotions? Problems involved in assessing emotions? B Yes, but extremely difficult ? Emotions are subjective ? Educators often ?put child into a box? before looking at the emotions H Yes, but extremely difficult Need to get to know learners in order to assess their emotions adequately Q Yes, but extremely difficult Emotions are subjective G Yes, but extremely difficult Did not elaborate R Yes T Yes, but extremely difficult No emotion should be given a higher mark than another on virtue that it is more positive or more intense Table 8: Participants views on the ability of educators to assess the emotions The majority of the participants, B, H, Q, G and T felt that it is very difficult to assess more than the cognitive sides of the individual. Participant Q stated that it is ?extremely difficult because it becomes subjective.? This subjectivity is difficult for two reasons in terms of assessment. Firstly because, as T argued, the learner's emotions are so subjective. If the learner is feeling extreme depression, or rage, or fear, how does an educator assess these emotions compared to happiness, joy, or playfulness? T continued by asking whether ?positive emotions hold more weight than those that are negative? Or simply in virtue of the fact that a learner is experiencing an emotion, is that a basis for a good or bad 61 assessment?? Secondly, the educator?s feelings may play a role in assessing the child. As Participant H stated, ?a teacher would come to know the children as individuals [and] pick up their different personalities, and then obviously work with those things in the classroom?. H continued by arguing that a child may be marked down if the teacher likes him/her less. Respondent B also contended that it is subjective to attempt to look at more than the cognitive side of the learner. She stated, ?Academically I think you can [assess the learner]. But emotions, you can try, but it?s so subjective ? how do you measure somebody?s emotions?? However, if the educator only gets to know only the ?naughty? side of the learner, can s/he make a non-subjective assessment of the learner? B argued that another reason that it is difficult is because if, for instance, a child?s work is untidy, the educators ?immediately assume that the child has got issues ? and they?re very quick to diagnose [the learners] or put them in a box?. So in that way, an educator?s subjective views on the child may play a role in their assessment as well. R argued that she felt that you can mark a learner?s holistic or emotional development. When asked whether an educator could assess this side of the learner?s development, R stated ?I think so, and I say that tentatively, but I think so?. However, when asked to elaborate, she did not go into this area of the educative process. Rather, R argued that she uses questions that challenge the learners? emotional, social or political views to ?gauge where they?re at?. The learners? answers provide insight into the learner which R felts is not a ?cognitive evaluation or assessment?. She stated, ?What is causing the problem with the children, causing their behaviour ? so I don?t know if it?s exactly an evaluation so much as an insight into their thinking, their emotions, not just ? ?feed back to me what I want you to learn and give it back to me in a rote learning style?. In this way, R challenges her learners in order to provide an insight into their thoughts, but does not necessarily assess the non-cognitive areas of the learners? development. 62 8. Can you assign a rating scale to the emotions? Teacher Can you assign a rating scale to emotions? Factors that influence assigning rating scale? B No ? It is too subjective ? Unfair interpretation of learners / Misdiagnosis ? Learners have to get 100% for interpretation of own emotions H Yes Did not elaborate Q No ? It is too subjective ? Too much administration G Yes Did not elaborate but felt that it is possible to reward learners through special prizes R Yes Look at insight of learner and whether insight is substantiated with examples T No It is too subjective Table 9: Views of participants in assigning a rating scale to the emotions Participant Q blatantly stated that ?I don?t believe that you can put a score onto [the emotions]?, for reasons that will be discussed. Subject B argued there are three primary problems with allocating a rating scale to the emotions. The first is that it may be subjective on the part of the educator. The second is that it often brings about a misdiagnosis or unfair interpretation of the learner and the third is that in view of the fact that a learner has emotions s/he should get full marks for these emotions. Participant B stated, that academically it is possible to assign a rating scale to the emotions, however ?emotions ? you can try, but it?s too subjective. You can?t ? how do you measure somebody?s emotions?? Participant Q reiterated this view of subjectivity in assigning a rating scale when she stated that in order to try to assess the emotions of their learners, Q?s school attempted to find a programme that would help them to assess the emotions. She stated, ?We came up with umpteen different questionnaires for staff members to use and they were all thrown out, every single one of them. Because it became subjective?. Participant T also stated ?I?m not sure that it?s viable because assigning a mark is too subjective on the part of both the teacher and the learner?. 63 The second problem, according to Participant B is that if you assess different aspects of a learner?s abilities such as art, poetry or literature, it is possible to assign a wrong interpretation to the learners? emotions, such as inferring emotional problems when the emotional problems may not exist. B maintained that if you ask a child to draw a picture and then infer emotions from that picture, interpretation becomes a problem. She argued that teachers are not trained to interpret learners, and can often misdiagnose them. Lastly, according to Subject B, there is the problem of assigning a mark for non-cognitive, non-physical areas of a child?s development. As B stated, ?you know, you can always talk about their physical, their personal, their emotional growth. That?s a question. But how I mark that, how I assess that ? that child, I mean, it?s their interpretation. They?ve got to get 100% for that?. B reasoned that you could give feedback to the learners in which you say that you can see elements of the learners? growth in certain situations, or that they have reached certain goals and so forth. However, because emotions are so subjective, and everybody has them, one can not give them a rating scale. For B, the closest you can come to assigning a rating scale to the emotions is to get the learners to reflect on elements of their own development, such as their physical, emotional or spiritual development, and write a reflective paragraph. The educators can then look at the reflective paragraph at the end of the year and compare it to the beginning of the year and observe the learner?s development through that. This can be compared to Subject R who reasoned that one can assess the emotions as well as a learner?s holistic development. R argued that this can be done through the answers that learners give in self-assessment questions, as well as questions that delve into the social, religious or moral problems of the learner. She stated, ?When you show insight, even if I disagree with you, if you show an insight and you are able to use relevant examples, you?ll get better marks than if you just gave an opinion. With examples, relevant examples about, ?this is why I say that? ? then I will gauge you on a scale?. R argued that because the educator is looking at an individual?s emotions or opinions, you can never give them nought, but the fact that they have the emotions, whether those feeling 64 are socially right or wrong, means that they automatically can be given a mark. If they justify those feelings, the mark goes up substantially. Participant G also felt that it is possible to assign a rating scale to the learners? emotions. In order to substantiate this view, G noted that ?what is interesting about a) traffic cops and b) the National Curriculum Statement is that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I don?t know if you?ve noticed the Metro Cops out a lot lately? And they are fining people very heavily? And it?s a lot in the newspapers that they?re getting everything back into order? And another thing that is interesting is that we?ve gone back to marks. We?ve gone back to subjects in certain areas. And, ja, need I say more? You know, it worked before, so it will work now?. However, G did not illustrate how it is possible to assign a rating scale to the emotions, rather arguing, ?I would say that in our school, we try to reward people who try to have very good holistic development by giving them the special prizes. We?ve got special prizes for those who are battling difficult circumstances. For those who ? there?s a principal?s prize and it usually goes to somebody who is never in the principal?s office, and is cooperative and supportive to the school and things like that. You know, so we have a roundabout way of doing it?. It may thus be observed that there were varying views on the ability of the educator to assign a rating scale to learners? emotions. Problems arise in terms of the subjectivity of giving a learner a mark for his /her emotions, misdiagnosing the learners, and giving a mark to learners for their own interpretation of their own emotions. This may be contrasted to the participant who felt that it is possible to assign a rating scale to these areas of the learners? development by looking at the learners? opinions and feelings, and whether or not these opinions and feelings can be substantiated with relevant examples. The ability of educators to reward learners for emotional development also came up in this question, however, participant G who advanced this notion did not elaborate on how it is possible to assign a rating scale to this element of a learner?s development. 65 9. Does Continuous assessment (CASS) help to assess the emotional development of the learner? Teacher Does CASS help with assessment of the emotions? Comments B Yes ? More beneficial to ?weaker? learners ? More reflective of learners? abilities H Yes More reflective of learners? abilities Q Yes Not reflective of learners? emotions G Yes Did not elaborate R Yes Did not elaborate T Yes More reflective of learners? abilities Table 10: Views of participants with regard to the ability of continuous assessment in helping to assess the emotional development of the learner Every participant agreed about the perceived benefit of continuous assessment, especially when it came to the academic benefits of the learners. However, as B argued, ?Continuous assessment benefits weaker learners who are not so strong academically because it gives them the chance, number one to improve work, and it also gives them a sort of ratio, of ?oh, this is where I am, where do I need to be?? And I think learners need that kind of guide?. She continued by arguing that CASS is not as necessary for the learners who are strong academically, since these learners will know what needs to be done in order to keep their grades up consistently. Continuous assessment is also seen to be beneficial since it uses different rubrics and mediums for the learners to work with. For instance, it uses written tasks, oral tasks and art, instead of simple rote-learning, and thus can advantage learners who may be weaker in memorising information, but stronger artistically or orally and so forth. Participants B, H and T felt that in addition to the academic benefits to CASS, there is an emotional benefit as well, since it is more reflective of the learners? abilities. B reasoned that if the learner was having an ?off day?, or had a fight with his /her parents or was not feeling well physically or emotionally, CASS is more reflective of the learner?s ability since it allows the learner to have more than one mark for his /her term mark. Respondent T repeated this sentiment when she stated, ?the child does not need to pull out all the stops? 66 during the exams. Rather, as Participant B stated, ?Maybe on one day [the learner] was having a really crap day and something happened and [the learners] just weren?t focusing on the paper. And it?s not a true reflection of a learner?s ability. The continual assessment is probably a more fair and a true reflection on the learner?s ability and potentials?. Subject H agreed with this viewpoint and stated, ?You don?t disadvantage the child who has great anxiety, who can?t cope with an exam situation. So you get a fairer picture of the child?. This view, however, may be contrasted to Participant Q who argued that CASS does not reflect the learner?s emotions. She stated, ?We do continuous assessment. But at no stage did we ever take into account the child?s emotions. [It is] very difficult?. However, she did not feel that it is impossible to take the emotions into account. Q furthermore claimed that the problem with attempting to mark a child on elements other than the cognitive, even when using CASS, is that some teachers are advantaged with knowledge about the child, whereas others are not. Q substantiated this by reasoning that when taking even a simplistic viewpoint of a child who has been ?emotionally involved because [his or her] parents have just gone through a divorce. Many times the teacher doesn?t know that. And your senior staff members would not necessarily divulge that information. As a guidance counsellor, you would be in a position to know that, but you don?t divulge that to your other staff members ? So in many cases it?s much easier of your guidance person to [look at the emotional side of the learners], but more difficult for other staff members?. 10. Do you think that the size of the class makes a difference when trying to take the emotions into account? Teacher Does the size of the class affect ability to take emotions into account? B Yes H Yes Q Yes G Yes R Yes T Yes Table 11: Participants? views on the difference the size of the class makes when attempting to take the emotions into account 67 All of the educators stated categorically that the size of the class makes a difference when attempting to take the emotions into account. For all of the participants, the larger the class, the less able you are to get to know the learners as individuals, and the less likely you are to take each learner?s emotions into account. Each participant mentioned that if you have a smaller class, you are more capable to deal with the learners? emotional problems, as well as being more able to deal with the learner as an individual. Participant B stated, ?If the classes were smaller, yes, you?d get to know your kids a lot better. You?d be able to identify barriers to learning, I?m not just meaning academic ? I?m meaning emotional as well?. B continued by giving an example of a work colleague of hers who has twelve classes with forty learners in each class. B insisted that with that many children and that many classes it is practically impossible to ?get to know each one of those kids inside and out?. Participant Q also stated that ?If you?ve got twelve or thirteen children [in each class], it would be a lot easier to get to know your children than in a class of thirty-eight?. Furthermore, according to participant Q, ?most government schools or state schools tend to be in excess of thirty eight or forty [learners] depending on high ? or primary schools. Um, it?s very difficult to cope with the amount of work that is required of the teacher in the classroom. And it?s become more difficult now because it?s become more management. You don?t just stand there and sprout ? you?ve got to do that continuous assessment. You?ve got to be on your toes wondering around the classroom or whatever. Um, so maybe with each one task you might pick up one aspect of emotion. If you?re lucky? H argued that it is not only the size of the class that makes a difference in attempting to take the emotions into account. She stated, ?With more children there?s more diversity. More diversity makes more demands. You?ve got only a limited amount of contact time with the children in the classroom situation. So yes, it divides you. Divides you up into smaller pieces?. 68 11. Problems with taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process Teacher Too few lessons a week Dropping standards School environment Administration involved Size of school Not enough support for educators B Yes Yes Yes Yes H Yes Yes Q Yes G Yes Yes R Yes T Yes Yes Table 12: Factors affecting taking the Holistic Education of Learners into account at a school level All of the participants mentioned a number of problems with taking the emotions into account in the educative process, other than those mentioned above. These were, that there were too few lessons every week to have real contact time with the learners, that academic standards might drop, the schools involved may be better equipped to deal with the emotional side of the learners, educators may feel that the administration and paperwork involved with taking the emotions into account is too much, a larger school may be less equipped to take the emotions into account and that teachers were having many problems in keeping up with the work load and the stress of trying to not only look at the learner academically, but emotionally, spiritually and morally as well. 11a. Too few lessons every week: Most of the participants, such as B, H, T and R, felt that they did not get enough contact time with the learners, and because of this, were unable to get to know the learners on anything more than a superficial level. Subjects B, H and T all commented on this problem when attempting to take the emotional side of the learners into account. B stated, ?You know, I sit with three lessons every ten days that are allocated to Life Orientation. You?re telling me that in an hour and a half, I?m meant to holistically develop a learner? It?s not going to happen?. H also argued, ?You?ve only got a limited amount of time ? a limited amount of contact time with the children in the classroom situation. So yes, it divides you. Divides you up into smaller pieces?. Subject T also mentioned the lack of enough contact 69 time as she reasoned, ?I don?t see how we?re meant to really get to know the learners when we don?t get nearly enough time with them. It?s a waste, because we try so hard but there?s no time to get to know the learners?. An additional problem to the time constraints, as Subject R suggested is that Life Orientation has become the amalgamation of different areas of the curriculum, namely, Guidance, Family Guidance, Vocational Guidance, Religious or Bible Education, Civic Education, Health Education and Physical Education. It is difficult to give the learners an adequate representation of all of these areas when there is so little time set aside for Life Orientation every week. R maintained, ?The only thing that I?m worried about is the increasingly, um, practical or physical activities. And I don?t know quite how it?s going to impact on ? you know how previously, one third of the time must be taken for the practical, the physical demonstration, which is very good. But I don?t know how we?re going to slot it into the timetable that we do have. You know? We used to have phys-ed? P.E., which now has to be included into the life orientation. It?s taking up a huge chunk of time?. Thus, there are two elements to the time constraints. These are the limited hours set aside every week for Life Orientation, and the inability to include all of the different areas set out in the Life Orientation Curriculum. 11b. Dropping Standards: This was mentioned as a concern by two different participants. Participant T stated that by trying to take the emotional aspects of the learner into account, especially the ?weaker? learners, the educator may help the learner beyond what s/he is capable of. T furthermore stated, ?You know, you?re pushing them through to grade 9, but are they at the grade 9 level?? Subject B also felt that this is a significant problem, contending, ?The question is, are you giving them the right standards?? 70 However, B felt that while it is possible that academic standards are dropping, these academic standards are not as significant as the learner?s emotions and life skills. She stated, ?The question comes in, what is their education about? Is it purely academic or is it moulding this person into being a person who can make decisions? Who has coping skills? Who knows how to live life? You know, which is the age-old argument. And that?s the difference between your Life Orientation teacher and your maths teacher. They want academics. We?re more interested in is, can this person cope in the outside world? I don?t care if you got a distinction or if you got 50%. If you?re a well-rounded person then cool?. 11c. School Environment Both Participants B and G felt that the school values and the facilities available to the learners and the educators in the school made a difference when attempting to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. Participant B contended that taking the emotions into account ?depends on the school ethos ? how the school runs?. For Participant B, some schools are better at taking the non- cognitive sides of the learners into account because they focus less on the desire for a mark for every aspect of the learners? development, and focus more on the individuality of the learners. Participant B furthermore felt that the facilities available to the school made a difference in taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. She argued that it is much easier for educators to take the emotions into account in schools where there are enough books, desks, pens, pencils and textbooks. Participant G concurred with this opinion as she reasoned that it is very interesting that more than the intellectual sides of the learner can be taken into account when you come from what she calls a ?good environment?. G justified this by stating, ?Can you imagine what it?s like for somebody in a township school? There aren?t necessarily enough teachers, never mind pens and pencils ? It?s much more difficult?. 71 11d. Administration involved Participant Q contended that a major problem involved when attempting to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process is the administration involved in looking at this area of a learner?s development. Q reasoned that when she and the school that she worked at attempted to put a form together to take the non-cognitive aspects of the child into account, it became difficult to fill out and the administration way too unwieldy. She stated, ?I had [a programme that] I was working on, and even that ? I had something like thirty points that I needed to look at within the classroom ? You can?t do it for every lesson. I would do it over a period of time. But, you know, you get involved in your lesson, and then you?re like ?Oh God! I forgot to fill in this silly form again?. So, uh, [it is] difficult ? [a] very difficult concept?. 11e. Size of school Both Participants H and G felt that the size of the school was an important factor when attempting to look at the non-cognitive aspects of the learner. Participant H asserted that she came from a small school and that made a massive difference in getting to know the learners. She reasoned, ?I worked in a school which had about five hundred kids, and then I used to teach ? you taught them in grade eight, then you would teach them again in grade ten and by the time they got to matric you would teach them again. And you actually knew them. You basically got to know the children in the school. In a school [this size] it?s impossible. It?s impossible. Even when I work with kids quite intimately and I keep, you know, all my own notes here on the children ? I say to them, you know, ?I?m going to forget you. When you come back, don?t be upset because I wont remember your name?. And I always make a joke of it. I say I?m an old lady and I forget. But it?s just because they ? you know, I?m seeing six to eight children every day, and they come back a year later. I can?t remember who they are or even what their problem is. It?s difficult?. Participant G also contended that the size of the school makes it easier to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. She asserted that her educational experience was in a small private school ?where they did take the whole child into account?. She then 72 moved to a small government school and when after having moved she ?enjoyed teaching because [of the] small classes ? It was like home away from home from that point of view, and you could get to know all the children?. Participant G reasoned that you cannot get to know the children if the school is too big, since you ?can?t communicate with the kids?. 11c. Educators? Emotional Well-being For B, a fundamental problem was that educators are not getting enough support, and because of this, are unable to look at more than the cognitive aspects of the learner. She stated, ?What about the holistic development of the educator. That?s what I want to know. That?s my question. Who looks after us? Who looks after the educator?! You know, that?s why educators are so stressed! Because we deal with these kids, and you take in ? you take in their issues, and you become like a psychologist. You need supervision. You know, teachers don?t get supervision. We don?t get to offload. We don?t get to debrief. We must just take on and take on and kids nowadays have hectic issues, hey. I don?t even want to go there. It?s frightening. It?s frightening! So I want to know, what about the holistic development of the educator?? B felt that educators would be more able to look at the holistic development of the learner, including the emotional, spiritual and moral aspects, if they were being looked after better ? if the Department were able to take cognisance of the educators stress and help the educator deal with his /her problems as well as the problems of the learners. Because many of the participants above mentioned training as an area of concern, the researcher decided to look at teacher trainers in order to extrapolate whether they felt more capable of teaching the educators how to feel adequate in teaching and assessing the emotions. For this reason, I have chosen to interview Life Orientation lecturers at the Education Campus of Wits University. 73 Results: University-Based Participants Lecturer Gender Qualification Institution Approximate Years of Teaching Experience L Female Did not divulge Wits ?Many Moons? Did not elaborate S Female Did not divulge Wits Approximately 4 Years in Life Orientation E Female M Ed, BA Hons (Biblical Studies), BA (Biblical and Religious Studies). Wits Approximately 25 Years Table 13: Participant Profile: University-based Participants All of the participants who were interviewed from the university-based lecturers were women. These women had been involved in their own specific area of Life Orientation for between four and twenty five years. While all of the lecturers interviewed teach Life Orientation, none of them are involved in the same learning area of Life Orientation as the other participants. One participant lectures personal well-being (or what used to be called guidance), while another participant lectures physical education and health promotion, and the last participant lectures the social development and religion studies side of Life Orientation. The NCS: L.O. (Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) states that ?the life skills addressed in the four Learning Outcomes of Life Orientation build on and interact with each other and are not isolated. It is important that teachers reflect the integrated nature of the subject in the development of a Learning Programme for Life Orientation to ensure that the content of the four Learning Outcomes is learnt, taught, and assessed in an integrated and holistic manner? (Italics added). Consequently, the researcher interviewed the lecturers in the different areas of Life Orientation in order to get a comprehensive picture of the emotions in specific, and holism in general. 74 1. Have you had participation and /or facilitated in Life Orientation Courses outside of the University environment Lecturer L.O. Training Workshops? Facilitator? For Whom? L Yes Yes GDE S Yes Yes GDE E Yes Yes GDE Table14: Participation by participants in training workshops or programmes All of the participants involved in this research had both participated in and facilitated courses outside of the University, which were put into place in order to help educators understand what the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) imparts about the policy and how to interpret it. However, although the religion education educator had helped to write and compile the courses, as well as facilitating them in the past, she had been left out of the recent training programmes, apparently for no clear reason. For the lecturer teaching religion education, this was a massive oversight on the part of those organising the Life Orientation courses, since, as she stated, ?The world is blowing up because of religious diversity. It?s blowing up because people don?t understand one another?s religious traditions?. For S, emotions and religious diversity are clearly linked, since religion is such an emotive and often controversial topic. This, for S, is evident in the fact that people are willing to die and to kill for their religious beliefs. S furthermore argued, ?How can you talk about holistic development if you choose to leave a little piece of the curriculum out?? 2. Thoughts or feelings with regard to Life Orientation Courses outside of the University environment? Lecturer Views on training programmes L Good, but need more post-workshop follow-ups S Good, but impractical with regards to circumstances of educators being trained E Did not recently participate Table 15: Views of participants with regard to the training programmes or courses 75 Those participants that recently took part in workshops felt that although the programmes were good, they were also fairly challenging. There were two reasons for this. The first, as Participant S stated was that a big problem with the training recently done in Limpopo is that it was impractical for the circumstances that the educators there are going through. She emphasized that ?It was an eye opener to see people who are keen but in the end they were saying, ?What is the Department actually trying to do? We can?t understand this and they don?t know our situation or context?. They [the Limpopo-based educators] do not have electricity or blackboards or pens or paper or even desks and they want to implement [the Life Orientation curriculum]? S argued that the educators value the learning and want information on how to structure lessons, lesson ideas and worksheets that they can use. The second problem was that there was not enough post-workshop follow-up. Participant L maintained, ?I thought that as a generic thing [the workshops were] fine, but there needed to be a lot of follow-up and a lot more training done in terms of what Life Orientation is. 3. Have you encountered the idea of holism or taking the holistic development of learners into account within the area of L.O.? Lecturer Encountered the idea of Holism L Yes ? but not explicitly S Yes ? but not explicitly E Yes ? but not explicitly Table 16: Participants? familiarity with the notion of Holism All of the participants concurred that they have encountered the idea of holism, although for all of the participants this concept tends to be implicit rather than explicit. Subject S asserted that both holism and the emotions ?isn?t explained explicitly ? what the teachers are experiencing, us as lecturers are also experiencing. Nobody?s telling you what it is exactly and how to do it. But it?s definitely alluded to here and there?. L continued this notion when she argued, ?within the department we?ve divided [Life Orientation] into areas of specialisation, [and holism] may not come through as explicitly. But I think that implicitly it?s an underlying foundation of what Life Orientation is?. Participant E also argued that holism is a foundation upon which the lecturers attempt to teach the prospective 76 students. She reasoned that ?What [the L.O. lecturers have] tried to do is to identify key concepts in Life Orientation ? because ? physical development and movement and religion education are, on the surface, quite removed from each other as disciplines?. E continued by asserting that there are connections that can be made in terms of the spiritual, emotional and physical aspects of the learner. Participant E then contended that the lecturers who teach Life Orientation to prospective educators attempt to use ?those key concepts to keep us tied into Life Orientation. Those are the foundations that we try to work from. And then each of us contributes to those different concepts in our own way?. The primary problem with the concept of holism, however, is that it is a difficult subject to put one?s finger on, because, like the emotions, it is implicitly assumed that every body knows what it is. As Participant S stated, ?If you want to get into the philosophy of it, or the psychology of it ? nobody?s given us that?. S furthermore reasoned, ?I suppose conceptually the problem with holism is: do we really know what it is? So on the deeper level is what you?re saying ? can we teach it properly? Can they then teach it properly? Do we know what it is? Do they know what it is?? S argued that as a superficial concept, the notion of holism is generally known. However, when attempting to look at what holism actually is and how the educator can teach it, it is much less clear. For the reasons stated above, if all of the participants only know what holism is on an implicit level, how is it possible for lecturers to teach the concept properly to prospective educators, and for educators to take holism into account with their learners? 4. How do you create awareness of holism and /or the emotions amongst prospective educators? Lecturer How awareness of Holism is established amongst prospective educators L Through core concepts or themes S Through core concepts or themes E Through core concepts or themes Table 17: How the participants felt that they were best able to create awareness of holism amongst prospective educators 77 All of the participants felt that the primary way to cultivate awareness of the concept of holism was through core concepts or themes that underpin the different disciplines of Life Orientation. Respondent S reasoned, ?We do have some general courses, where everybody that does Life Orientation gets together, and [we show them the different] strands or themes or core ideas that we all try to work towards and integrate?. These core concepts or themes include ?diversity, human rights, values, wellness ? wellness in terms of [the] spiritual, physical and emotional? aspects of the learner. Participant S also asserted that the emotions are a strong link that can be used to integrate within the general courses involved in Life Orientation, however she did not elaborate on how this may be done. Participant E argued that there are themes or core concepts which can be shown within general courses, especially in the first-year courses. E stated, ?What we do is we start off [first] year with all the students together and we introduce them to Life Orientation as a learning area with different branches to it, and we explain the uniqueness of it in relation to other subjects or learning areas in schools. And then we identify the core concepts ? we talk them through those ? And then we show them how those particular concepts are important or underpinning in all of those different disciplines within Life Orientation?. The group then gets split into the different disciplines, such as Personal Well-being; Citizenship Education; Recreation and Physical Well-being and so forth. E continued by arguing that ?the person who takes them for personal development will make links with me because you can?t separate personal development and social development. So we make sure that we draw [the prospective educators?] attention to the overlap of those. Always the eye is on those core concepts and how those four areas that we cover, basically overlap ? and dovetail into one another. So we?re very conscious of the need to integrate those ideas?. Participant E also argued that each lecturer may be able to contribute to the notion of holism through these core concepts by using their particular interests to make links between the subjects. She asserted that it is not always easy to make these links since ?if you think about it, physical development and movement and religion education are, on the surface, quite far removed from each other as disciplines.? These links are, however, possible. 78 Participant S did not, however, feel that creating awareness of holism is that blatant in the teaching process. She asserted, ?Generally you?re doing your own themes ? And wherever there?s a link, I think the good lecturer would pick it up and relate it back to the core concepts?. In spite of what was mentioned above, it was felt that because holism is not an overt concept, it is taught as something that is implied rather than something that has a direct reference. L argued this point when she insisted that ?it?s not something that comes across as an obvious thing ? It?s not something that?s taught explicitly out of the curriculum?. In this way, the participants all felt that Holism is dealt with most directly by looking at themes or core concepts that come into each area of Life Orientation. The lecturer should be able to integrate the overlaps of the core concepts and relate them back to the other learning areas. It also appears that the concept of holism may be most observable within the first year of study, when there is a general Life Orientation course and the students have not been split into the separate learning areas. 5. Do you think that prospective teachers feel equipped to take the holism, or emotions, of learners into account when they enter the school environment? Lecturer Perceived preparedness of prospective educators to take holism into account Reasons for views L Not sure Depends on level that prospective educators leave Life Orientation S Yes ? more so than in the past Lecturers more competent to teach all of the different areas that may be included in ?holistic development? E No ? Inadequate time to go into different areas of L.O. in depth ? Centralisation of different subjects into L.O. amounts to superficial knowledge of learning areas. Table 18: Participants view on the perceived preparedness of prospective educators taking Holism into account in the teaching/learning process 79 Each of the lecturers answered this question differently. Participant E insisted that the students often do not feel prepared to take the emotions or the holistic development of the learner into account when they get into the schools. She reasoned that the prospective students ?are not adequately prepared for school, because they haven?t had sufficient time to go into any of the [Life Orientation] disciplines in depth?. E argued that the reason for this is because the prospective educators only get a superficial covering compared ?what we used to do when we had our individual subjects on the timetable?. For Subject E, because the different areas of Life Orientation have been unified21, the students and prospective teachers go into the different areas of Life Orientation in a much more superficial manner. Participant S appeared to disagree with Interviewee E, since she argued that the prospective students feel more competent now than in the past to take the holistic development of learners into account in the teaching /learning process. She insisted, ?I would think that the people that we send out are more able to, and more qualified than the existing teachers. We?ve already bent over backwards. We?ve tried to grapple with it ourselves. And I think as each year goes by we?re getting better at it. You know, when I look back on the students, some of them really embraced the Life Orientation. And maybe we haven?t gone 100% getting a person specialised in all four areas ... but I think we?ve got many that are really good at it. So at least it?s a step. It?s a start. They know what they should be doing. I don?t know what happens when you get out there and start teaching, whether ? the ethos of the school, and whether the other teachers take over and it actually engulfs them and they become like them. Hopefully not?. Participant L?s view on this subject is different to both S and E, since she stated that she was not sure whether prospective teachers feel adequately prepared to take the emotions and the whole child into account. Her view is based on the exit level of the prospective educator. Participant L argued that ?if they?re first years, they?re doing the first year course and they?re exiting after first year. I?m not sure that there?s been sufficient grounding for 21 Instead of there being different subject areas for Guidance, Family Guidance, Vocational Guidance, Religious or Bible Education, Civic Education, Health Education and Physical Education, there is one discipline of Life Orientation, with all of these different areas included in it. 80 them to understand [the different concepts]. However coming in as a fourth year doing a first year course and then graduating with Life Orientation, I think that their experiential learning and, you know, all the other stuff that they get from the curriculum will assist them with that. So it depends on the exit level of the students in whether they get [the core concepts] or not?. In this way, the elements that affect the prospective educator the most in attempting to take the holistic development of the learner into account is the time and the degree to which they were able to go into all of the different areas of Life Orientation in detail; the fact that the lecturers are more able to teach all of the different areas of Life Orientation adequately; the school ethos and other teachers that may make it difficult to take the emotions into account in the educative process; and the level at which the prospective educator exits the Life Orientation course. 6. Do you think that you can assess more than the cognitive side of the learner, such as the emotions, at a school level? Lecturer Can educators assess non- cognitive aspects of learner? Reasons for views L Difficult, unless looking at physical aspects of learner Not enough practical experience with assessment in schools S No, unless looking at physical aspects of learner ? Unfair to put a value to what learners think or feel ? Should not need to assess non- cognitive aspects of learners ? rather, need to look at all aspects of the child differently ? Assessment should be seen in terms of learners standing up for their opinions and respecting other people?s opinions ? Potential for learners to be assessed through personal development analysis. E No, unless looking at physical aspects of learner Not fair to assess non-cognitive side of learners Table19: Views of participants with regard to the assessment of non-cognitive aspects of learners in schools 81 Each of the participants felt that it is difficult to attempt to assess more than the cognitive aspects of the learner. However all of the participants felt that it is easier to assess the physical elements rather than emotional, moral or spiritual in a learner. This is evident in the responses of both L and S. Participant L reasoned that ?the physical is probably the easiest one to assess?. S concurred with this view when she argued that the Physical Education educators can look at the assessment in terms of an understanding of how the body works and how it develops physically. All of the lecturers, however, agreed that there was a problem with fairness when assessing the emotional side of the learner. For instance, S stated, ?Is it actually fair? You know, how do you assess and put a value to how somebody thinks or feels? So I think assessment, in terms of ? Life Orientation [is] a problem. Much more than in any other area?. Respondent E also felt that assessment is difficult for the emotional side of the learner. She justified this when she asserted, ?I don?t know how possible it is, in fact, to assess values and attitudes ? Because you can have someone who is a ?flipping? Einstein, but when it comes to attitudes, they fail dismally?. Participant S also argued that it may be possible to assess the learner in terms of an ?exam-equivalent activity? in which the learner looks at his /her year and discusses different aspects of his /her developmental life such as what s/he has done in terms of sport, community service, relationships and so forth. The learners may also ?look at Hospice or Caregivers ? and research different aspects of that?. However, according to Participant H, this does not necessarily give a fair assessment of the learner, since it looks only at the externally visible aspects of the learner and not the internal dynamics that the learner faces every day. Participant L considered that another problem with the assessment of the learner in schools is that the prospective educators have not had enough practical experience in assessment in the schools. L reasoned that ?the delivery of the content and then the assessment of the content at a tertiary level doesn?t lend itself to the teachers going back into the schools and doing the assessment of those kinds of things because I don?t think there?s been enough exposure at this level for them to then go out and look at holistic development and give [the 82 learners] a mark. I don?t think it?s being done, you know? So if it?s not being done here, how can they expect it to be done in the schools? So I don?t know. And also, I don?t know that the ? the students here are being given an opportunity to, um, to partake in that kind of assessment?. L continued by asserting that the prospective teachers have a good theoretical knowledge of what is expected of them, however, ?they?re not necessarily given the opportunity to go out and assess that at a school?. She stated that if the GDE ?want to provide that kind of assessment then they need to provide the kind of training that goes with it?, as well as the practical experience in the schools. Interviewee S contended that perhaps the point of having the idea of holism put into the curriculum is not so that it can be assessed or so that it can go onto the report cards, but rather to get people thinking about certain things differently, and accepting other people?s differences, whether it be a different emotional reaction to an event, or a difference of opinion. In order to support this, she reasoned ?I suppose if you just get [the learner] thinking about these things and get them to be able to stand up for their own opinions, but respect and accept others? opinions, maybe we?ve done something?. 7. Do you think that you can assess the emotions or the learners? holistic development using a rating scale? Lecturer Can you assign a rating scale to emotions? Factors that influence assigning rating scale? L Difficult Delivery is insufficient S Difficult and unfair ? Only if you look at insight of learner and whether insight is substantiated with examples ? However, if emotion or opinion considered morally wrong, on basis of learner having opinion, should they get full marks? ? Learners have to get 100% for interpretation of own emotions E No Can only describe the change in a learner?s emotions, but not assign a rating scale to this Table 20: Views of participants in assigning a rating scale to the emotions 83 Each of the participants stated that they do not know how it is possible to assess the learners? emotions or holistic development using a rating scale. S argued that it may be possible to assess the learners? opinions and feelings, however not in terms of a right or wrong answer, but rather in terms of the fact that they have those emotions. She asserted, ?I think in terms of Life Orientation I like to say to the students, you can assess their opinions or emotions, but not in terms of ?Oh well, it?s not the same as mine so therefore it?s wrong?, but the fact that they have one?. S maintained that it may be possible to give the child a percentage for the emotions. She validated this claiming, ?If the child has an opinion, give them 60%. If they back up their opinion give them 70% no matter what their opinion is?. In spite of this, however, Participant S felt that it is not adequate in terms of the child?s holistic development to give a mark for the substantiation of an opinion, since the assessment of the emotional or moral sides of the learner does not take into account that an emotion or moral can be substantiated whether it is morally correct or not, and whether there is a positive or negative emotion involved. For this reason, Participant S finds a contradiction in the assigning of marks to a non-cognitive element of the development of the learner. This contradiction lies in the fact that, for her, all children should get full marks on the basis of having an emotion or opinion and so forth. However, these emotions or opinions may be socially unacceptable, or unacceptable according to the South African constitution. If the emotions or opinions are considered unacceptable, but well substantiated, should the learner still get full marks? When justifying this, Participant S spoke of a question that stated ?What would you do or how would you react if your best friend came and told you that they were actually ?gay22??? Participant S claimed that ?half of these kids were saying, ?Well, I won?t be friends with them any more?, or, ?That?s wrong for religious reasons? or, ?Maybe I?ll still be his friend??. Participant S reasoned that because you are asking a question that has to do with the opinion or emotions of the child, you should not be allowed to give them anything but 100%. However, as Subject S stated, ?What if they?re saying its okay to bring weapons to school or to beat up other kids in a fit 22 ?Gay?: Homosexual 84 of rage?? Should the educator mark the learner down for the negative emotions expressed, or does the learner get 100% simply because s/he had an emotion. Subject E argued that it is very difficult, and probably impossible to assess a learner?s emotions. She stated, ?I don?t know how possible it is, in fact, to assess values and attitudes. Can you actually assign a pass or a fail to someone?s attitudes? Because you could have someone who is a ?flipping? Einstein, but when it comes to attitudes, they fail dismally?. E continued by claiming that ?perhaps on a personal level as a teacher I could say, ?Gee, I can see that this person?s attitudes are changing ? [but] how do I put that on a report card? I really don?t know how you do that. And I don?t think that you can ignore it. Participant L maintained that the ?delivery? is important when attempting to look at the non-cognitive aspects of the learner. She argued that ?I think the physical aspects are probably the easiest to assess? Um, when we start looking at values and tolerance and diversity and those kinds of things, I think it?s dependent on the delivery. And I don?t know how you then go about saying ?We?ll, you know, this learner gets it in terms of religious diversity or in terms of sexuality or in terms of handling stress or whatever??. Part of the problem with delivery, according to Participant L, is that the students who are learning Life Orientation at a university level have the choice of leaving out one of the sections related to Life Orientation, such as Religion Education, Physical Education or Citizenship Education. She argued that ?if you leave one of those things out, you can?t say that it?s a holistic programme, um, in terms of outcomes?. Participant L argued that this is a problem because the educator then goes into the schools and does not have a sufficient grasp as to how to assess the learners in all of the fields of Life Orientation. Furthermore, according to L, some educators do not have a ?good enough grasp about what Life Orientation is?. For this reason, the educator is unable to teach or assess the different aspects of the learner?s development since s/he does not have a firm grasp of all of the elements involved in Life Orientation. 85 8. Does Continuous Assessment (CASS) help to assess the emotional or holistic development of the learner? Lecturer Does CASS help with assessment of the emotions? Comments L Yes ? Staff & school ethos important implementation factors ? Not enough exposure to CASS at a tertiary level by prospective educators ? Needs to be a ?whole school effort? S Yes ? But can be an administrative nightmare ? Staff & school ethos important implementation factors E Yes ? Needs to be a ?whole school effort? ? Takes time Table 21: Views of participants with regard to the ability of Continuous Assessment in helping to assess the emotional development of the learner All of the participants agreed that continuous assessment is the best way to attempt to assess the learner in terms of his /her emotional and holistic development. Participant E was most apt in expressing this when she argued that ?you can only assess those kinds of affective outcomes on a continuous basis. It?s not something you can ? I don?t think you can only assess [the emotions] summatively. Especially when it comes to the personal development of someone?. For all of the participants, however, there are problems that are involved in assessing the emotions through the CASS system, notwithstanding the problems mentioned above in the assessment of ? and assigning a rating scale ? to the learner?s holistic development. One of these problems, according to S is that the administration expected of the educators is exorbitant. S put this simply when she claimed, ?Continuous assessment has caused many grey hairs for teachers out there?. Another problem is that continuous assessment needs to be a ?whole school effort?. Participant E claimed that it takes years to change a person's attitudes, and for this reason, holistic development has to be a commitment by the whole school, and all of its staff 86 members. E also emphasised that ?when you?re changing attitudes and values and creating awareness of discrimination and things like that, perhaps its part of a whole-school effort to promote those kind of positive ? things over a long period of time?. Participant L concurred with Subject E, reasoning that the effort made by the school is important in taking the emotions into account. Participant L furthermore argued that as much as the lecturers attempt to teach the prospective teachers how to take the emotions into account, as well as how to assess the emotions, the staff and the school ethos makes a difference to whether or not this theory can be put into practice. Subject S also stated, ?I don?t know what happens when you get out there and start teaching, whether ? the ethos of the school and whether the other teachers take over and it actually engulfs [the prospective educators] and they become like [the teachers working in the schools]. Hopefully not?. Interviewee L contended that there is also the potential that there is not enough exposure to continuous assessment as an assessment tool by the prospective educators. For this reason, according to Participant L, the students and prospective teachers may be unable to use CASS adequately when attempting to measure anything other than the cognitive side of the learner. L claimed that ?the delivery of the content and the assessment of the content at a tertiary level doesn?t lend itself to the teachers going back into the schools and doing the assessment of those kinds of things, because I don?t think there?s been enough exposure at this level for them to then go out and look at holistic development and give [the learners] a mark?. For the reasons stated above, it is evident that while all of the participants felt that continuous assessment is most helpful when attempting to assess the non-cognitive aspects of the learner, there are many problems that are involved with it. These include the participation of the school and the staff and school ethos, the time that it takes for implementation in the schools, the administration involved, and the exposure that prospective educators are getting to CASS at a tertiary level. 87 9. What kinds of problems do you foresee with regard to taking the emotions or the holistic development of the learner into account? Teacher Time Allocation Administration Work L.O is a conglomerate of subjects More educators needed in L.O. Low Status of L.O. Conceptual Problems Schools University L Yes Yes S Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes E Yes Yes Yes Yes Table 22: Factors affecting taking the Holistic Education of Learners into account at both a school and University level The lecturers mentioned a number of problems with taking the emotions and the holistic development of the learners into account in both the university and school situation. These include the time that is allocated to L.O. in both the schools and the university level, and the fact that L.O. has become a conglomerate of many different subjects. Additionally there is the problem that L.O. needs more than one teacher because there are so many different intricate parts that are involved in the Life Orientation learning area. Furthermore, L.O. is considered to have a very low status in the schools, which creates problems for L.O. educators. Lastly, there are conceptual problems that are involved in taking the whole child into account, and similarly, taking the emotions into account. Each of these problems will be briefly explained. 9a. Time allocated to Life Orientation Participants S and E cited time allocation as a difficulty when attempting to take the emotions and /or the holistic needs of the learners into account within the area of Life Orientation. Subject S stated that if one looked at what is expected of lecturers, it is difficult to undertake all this work within the small amount of time allocated to Life Orientation every week. Furthermore, she argued that educators only have a ?certain amount of time in the classroom and teachers are really stressed?. Part of the reason for this, argued S, is that there is too much administration work to do, and educators tend to 88 participate in sporting or cultural activities within the school, as well as parent-evenings and so forth. For this reason, S asserted that ?[the educators] used to steal the L.O. period to go and do that. They were forever saying, ?Just read a book or study for your Geography test tomorrow. I?ve got my bookings or my phone calls or my whatever?. And even the dedicated person ? how much can you do in such a short space of time?? Interviewee E also felt that the problem of time allocation is a prominent one in attempting to take the holistic development of learners and the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. Participant E argued that the time factor is problematic, since, as she contended, ?we?re packing what used to be three different subjects into one diagonal on the timetable, [and therefore] our time becomes limited?. This view of time allocation will be explained below. The shortage of time due to time allocation is related to the lack of time allocated to Life Orientation in the classroom, the administration the educator is asked to deal with and the centralisation of Life Orientation from three different subjects into one learning area. These problems are expounded in the next two sections which deal with the low status that Life Orientation receives as a subject, and the unification of Life Orientation from three subjects to one learning area. 9b. The Status of Life Orientation in Schools. This is a primary concern of Participant S, who claimed that the subjects at school that were not awarded a high status, such as religion, guidance and physical education were put together in a conglomerate and called ?Life Orientation?. She reasoned that ?it?s almost like saying phys-ed, religion, guidance: these aren?t important. So we just chuck them all together and we make a new subject?. S felt, however, that the opposite should be true: that Life Orientation should be considered important, and that is should be awarded a better status since it deals with some of the most difficult areas of a learner?s development, including the emotions, the spirituality and the cultural diversity. She argued that children nowadays have many more problems than in the past, from social issues to emotional 89 problems, and that Life Orientation as a learning area may be the best suited area to deal with those issues. Participant S furthermore stated that the Department of Education and the schools in general ?should be embracing this subject as the most important subject, particularly given what kids are doing nowadays. It?s horrific. The stuff that I come across ? it?s unbelievable?. S continued by stating that it is practically difficult for Life Orientation educators to adequately teach Life Orientation since ?people out there still don?t think that it?s important. And even the kids who are now going into matric and it?s compulsory for them ? the treat it like, ?Oh well, it?s just guidance. It?s just L.O.??. Subject S argued that the reason that Life Orientation is not granted a higher status is because ?it?s very ?airy-fairy?, ?wishy-washy?. Esoteric almost. Dealing with feelings and who-am-I?? However, S stated that Life Orientation deals with the ?core of the whole being?. Nevertheless, ?because it?s so flimsy and not concrete enough like your maths and sciences, it?s ignored?. 9c. The Division of Life Orientation as a learning area This section pertains to the question of the emotions and holism within the school and the university situation. In both of these learning centres, educators and lecturers hold a particular bias toward or against at least one of the learning areas. I will deal firstly with the division of Life Orientation in the schools, and then move to this partition in the universities. The Unification of Life Orientation in the Schools Life Orientation used to be a split discipline. What is now combined as Life Orientation used to be made up of Guidance, Physical Education, and Bible Studies or Religious Studies. A primary difficulty with Life Orientation, according to all of the participants, is that most of the Life Orientation educators were taught before the unification of the different areas of Life Orientation. Furthermore, they were educated in only one of the different fields of Life Orientation (such as Guidance, or Physical Education or Religious 90 Studies). As the curriculum changed and these areas became amalgamated, the educators were unable to fully incorporate each of the different learning areas so that a full holistic account of the learner could be made. E affirmed this when she stated, ?I think the problem in schools is that the teachers were trained to be guidance teachers, physical education teachers, moral education teachers, religious education ? So what you find when you go into schools is you have L.O. on the timetable ? physical education. L.O. guidance. Very often religion is dumped completely?. Both E and L argued that the reason that Life Orientation is as divided as it is, is because it came from an era where the idea of integration was not there. L stated, ?I think that Life Orientation per se is quite a fragmented subject because of the legacy of where it came from, and so now to try deal with all of those things under one umbrella, when they are so diversified in their content and in their understanding of everything ... I?m not sure that the teachers go out and say, ?Okay, we?re looking at the whole child. How can we do this looking at religious, looking at the physical, looking at the emotional, and all those kinds of things??? E agreed with the above point when she stated, ?It?s just because [the educators] come from an era where that kind of holistic, integrated teaching and learning idea wasn?t really there ? it was absent at that stage?. Because Life Orientation is such a broad subject, Participant E reasoned that Life Orientation needs to be restored to its constituent parts, and have a teacher for each learning area. E claimed, ?I think in terms of the bigness of Life Orientation? Uh, I think for me ? life orientation comprises of different disciplines, and I think that?s ? that?s a bit difficult for [prospective educators] to contend with, and teachers in schools to contend with. It?s the bigness of it. And I think that if you?re looking at contributing to the holistic development of children, how holistically trained are the teachers ? if that?s the right word? And that?s difficult ? to try to think in terms of a life orientation teacher. So my issue is ? should we not be looking for a team of people, rather than a life orientation teacher? So that?s my issue. Life Orientation needs to be broken down into its different areas and have a teacher for each area. So I think that different people will have different interests. Some people will have a clear interest in the physical and health development of learners. Um, 91 but, they should also have an understanding of ? of those things within the context of Life Orientation. So whilst you may have an interest in physical education, and health and wellness, you also have the ? the social and personal development of the child in mind?. The Division of Life Orientation in the Universities Both Participants E and L felt that there is not only a division within the different learning areas of Life Orientation because of the amalgamation of the different subjects of the old curriculum, but also because both lecturers and prospective educators within the field of Life Orientation feel a bias toward certain areas of Life Orientation. Participant E felt that there may be a bias of the students or prospective students toward certain areas of L.O. E emphasised this point by claiming that she ?had a couple of students who were really coming in because they wanted to do ? they did life orientation because they wanted to do physical education and movement, and hated what [she] did. Hated the religion, in spite of the fact that it was diverse. Hated it?. Participant E furthermore argued that there are students who love her section of Life Orientation. She stated that they ?Love it with a passion, and hate anything that looks like movement, you know? So that is a problem?. Furthermore, in terms of the lecturers, E stated, ?I think that each of us is ? each of us is a kind of empire-builder, which is a big problem in universities. Each of us has our own disciplines at heart, and obviously each of us thinks our own areas are the most important in the world. I think one of the problems is that although we do have the holism in mind, we also ?. We?re also very conscious of the fact that we are passionate about our own areas. So we may forget along the line ? although I think we do a pretty good job in acknowledging one another?s efforts; one another?s contributions to the holistic development of the student and of the learners in schools. But I think that problem is there, that one of us ? depending on who takes the curriculum studies aspect will punt their own section ? their own area above the rest. So that?s a little bit of a problem. I think we ? we as a staff are kind of getting over our particular biases, but they?re there. They are there. 92 Um, because obviously ? if you?re going to teach a holistic curriculum study that is meant to draw the different strands of life orientation together, because what we try to do is show at lesson level ? at classroom level ? if you?re going to teach a life orientation lesson you shouldn?t only be thinking about say physical development. You should also be looking at other aspects ? how does cultural diversity come into it? How does personal development come into it? And the tendency may be toward leaving those out?. Participant L also argued that this is a confounding factor when attempting to teach the holism to the prospective educators, since she contended that she is ?not sure if [the lecturers] have been good enough in creating a mesh that looks at the holistic development, that includes the physical, the mental, the social, the cognitive. You know ? all of those things ? in terms of the programme that we are developing?. In this way, both the lecturers? and the prospective educators? personal biases toward his/ her learning area might make it harder for him/her to take an adequate representation from all of the different learning areas, and this will make it harder for the prospective educator to take full cognisance of the holistic development of the learners. 9d. More Educators needed in Life Orientation This problem has been stated above by Participant E when she argued that because Life Orientation has been made into a unified learning area, it is important to re-separate Life Orientation back into its constituent parts and give each learning area of Life Orientation its own educator. E argued that ?Life Orientation needs to be broken down into its different areas and have a teacher for each area. So I think that different people will have different interests. Some people will have a clear interest in the physical and health development of learners. Um, but, they should also have an understanding of ? of those things within the context of Life Orientation. So whilst you may have an interest in physical education, and health and wellness, you also have the ? the social and personal development of the child in mind?. In this way, it is possible for the learners to get enough time in each of the different areas of Life Orientation, while still focusing all of the different aspects of Life Orientation. 93 9e. Conceptual Problems: This problem was brought forward by all of the participants who argued that it is not simple to teach holism or the emotions, since, while both of these concepts may be considered intuitive, no one knows what they are explicitly [See section 3 and 4 above]. Participant S put it simply when she stated, ?I suppose conceptually the problem with holism is, do we really know what it is? So on the deeper level ? can [the lecturers] teach it properly? Can [the educators] then teach it properly? Do we know what it is? Do they know what it is?? Participant S also stated that the ideas of holism and the emotions are not explained explicitly. She argued that nobody explains what these concepts mean, however ?they are definitely alluded to here and there, and we try to do that as a department. You know, we keep saying, ?It?s holistic development. The document says ?? You know, this is what we?re aiming for. So on that level, yes. But if you want to get into the philosophy of it, or the psychology of it, or the depths of it, nobody?s given us that?. For this reason, the notion of holism is a difficult concept to grapple with because each of the lecturers knows what holism is inherently, but in terms of teaching it explicitly, there is no overt, fundamental understanding of the concept. For this reason, on a practical level, it is hard to take the holistic development of the learner as a broad subject, and the emotions particularly into account in the educative process. 94 Chapter Four Discussion The notions of both holism and the emotions are difficult concepts to come to terms with. Both of these aspects of development are considered integral to the teaching /learning process, however, neither of these concepts are easily definable and for this reason, tend to be looked at in an intrinsic fashion rather than explicitly. The interviews were coordinated in order to ascertain how both the school- and university based-participants understood the policy demands and the intricacies of dealing with the emotions in the teaching /learning process; as well as to discover the practical implications of taking the emotions into account in the classroom situation. This included whether the educators felt competent in teaching and assessing the emotions; as well as whether the training that they had received had increased their feelings of competency when teaching and assessing the emotions. It furthermore examined whether the teacher trainers in Life Orientation felt proficient in teaching emotions to prospective educators, as well as whether they felt that it was practical for educators to teach and assess the emotions in the teaching /learning process. The participants involved in this research indicated that although it is possible to teach and assess the emotions, this is difficult or impractical for a number of reasons. This discussion revolves around the complexities of taking the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process. Training and the Emotions The problematic nature of the emotions and holism in the teaching /learning process may be seen in the responses of both the university-based and the school-based participants. All of the school-based respondents argued that they felt unprepared to take the emotions into account with regard to the training that they have received. One possible reason for this 95 feeling according to the school-based participants may be, as the university-based participants argued, that the emotions are inherent in the teaching /learning process, and they cannot necessarily be taught explicitly. Because of the inherent nature of the emotions, the university-based interviewees argued that the best way that they can create awareness of the non-cognitive elements of development is through core concepts and themes. The NCS: L.O. (Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) states that ?the life skills addressed in the four Learning Outcomes of Life Orientation build on and interact with each other and are not isolated. It is important that teachers reflect the integrated nature of the subject in the development of a Learning Programme for Life Orientation to ensure that the content of the four Learning Outcomes is learnt, taught, and assessed in an integrated and holistic manner? (Italics added). As has been previously mentioned, the way that this integration may occur, according to the university-based participants, is through the core concepts or themes. These core concepts and themes are said to include diversity, human rights, and wellness in terms of the spiritual, physical and emotional elements of the learner. However, it should noted that two of the three university-based participants stated before the interviews commenced that they felt inadequately prepared to talk of the emotions specifically during the interviews and for this reason the interviews dealt with the concept of holism more generally, rather than the emotions in specific. A contradiction within the responses of the interviewees came about when it was noted that in spite of the fact that all of the school-based participants felt unprepared to take the emotions into account in the classroom situation, all of them felt that it is possible to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. However, half of the participants felt that there are problems related to taking the non-cognitive elements of the learner into account in the classroom situation. The reasons given for the feasibility of taking the emotions into account within the teaching /learning process is that it is the purpose of Life Orientation to foreground this element of the learner, however there was no elaboration with regards to the practical nature of taking 96 this aspect of the learners? development into account. Another reason provided was that a good educator will always take the whole child into account, including the emotions. However, there was no indication on how this might be accomplished, or what it takes to be a good educator. The respondents who felt that it is problematic to take the non-cognitive aspects of the learner into account in the teaching /learning process gave a number of reasons for this conclusion. The first reason is that educators have not had adequate training to prepare them to take the different aspects of the learners? development into account. The second reason is that there is inadequate time given to Life Orientation, so that it is difficult to go into all of the different aspects of the learner?s development. The third reason for the problematic nature of attempting to take the emotions into account is that some children are more likely to open up to the educator than others. It is easier for the educator to take the emotions of the learners that discuss the different aspects of their lives into account, since the educator is able to take cognisance of what is going on in the learner?s life. The last two reasons that were discussed by the school-based participants were class size and the number of classes that the participants had on a daily basis. The NCS: L.O. (Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) stated that there are various methods that are suitable to the teaching of Life Orientation and are chosen by considering ?the number of learners in the class? (p.14). These methods of teaching include group discussions, case studies, outings, games, performances, journal writing, videos and research. However, the NCS: L.O. Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) does not elaborate on which methods to teaching L.O. are better when there are more learners in a class compared to when there are fewer. It is also unclear as to how the NCS: L.O. (Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) proposes that the educators get to know all of the different aspects of all the different individuals within the larger classes, as well as how to assess these different elements of the learners. The respondents felt that class size is significant since the more learners in each class, the more difficult it is to get to know each learner and the more difficult it is to treat each 97 learner as an individual with distinct needs and feelings. Related to this is the number of classes that an educator has to teach during any given week. The more classes that an educator has, the harder it is for the educator to get to know his /her learners. Furthermore, the educator who has more classes is more likely to be stressed and get frustrated with attempting to take all the different elements of all the different learners into account within the classroom situation. Assessment and the Emotions The National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation (2003) states that the purpose of assessment is that it helps the learner to gauge the value of their learning. The NCS: L.O. (Learning Programme Guidelines (2007) furthermore states that Assessment ? is an integral part of teaching and learning. For this reason, assessment should be part of every lesson and teachers should plan assessment activities to complement learning activities. In addition, teachers should plan a formal year-long Programme of Assessment. Together the informal daily assessment and the formal Programme of Assessment should be used to monitor learning progress though the school year. However, the NCS: L.O. (2003; 2007) does not give any indication of how it is possible to assess the emotional aspects of the learner, nor the assessment rubrics to use in this area of the learners? development. The confusion emerging as a consequence of the omissions in the National Curriculum Statement with regard to assessment and rating scales is evident in the responses of both the school-based and university-based participants. While most of the school-based participants felt that it is possible, although extremely difficult to assess the non-cognitive aspects of the learner, the majority of the university- based participants felt that it is difficult, if not impossible to evaluate these aspects of the learner. There are a number of reasons for these views. The first reason is that the emotions are subjective and for this reason it is unfair to put a value on what the learner thinks or feels. The second reason given by the participants is that no emotion should be given a higher mark than another emotion simply by virtue that it is more positive (i.e. 98 emotions associated with happiness or other positive emotions) or more intense. The third reason is that it may be easier to assess emotions when the educator has been able to get to know the learners, since it is only by getting to know the learner that the educator is able to understand the different emotions of the learner has and how the learner is likely to react to different situations. By getting to know the learner, the educator is also less likely to ?put the child into a box?, and label him or her as being ?naughty? or ?good?, and so forth. The fourth reason for the difficult nature of the assessment of the learner is that there has not been enough practical experience by prospective educators in the school situation while they were in tertiary institutions. For this reason, the prospective educators do not know how it is possible to assess the non-cognitive aspects of the learners when they get into a school situation. These problems notwithstanding, it was still felt that it is possible to assess the non- cognitive aspects of the learner. The two basic ways that this is possible is through a ?personal development analysis?, which is when the learner is made to write an essay, exam equivalent or exam which examines the learner?s feelings on how s/he has changed in a given time limit, such as during the year. The personal development analysis is supposed to look at the different elements of the learner, such as the physical, social, spiritual and emotional, by asking the learner to describe how s/he feels that s/he has changed in terms of these elements, and by looking at community programmes and volunteer work that the learner is participating in. This, however, is also subjective and the learner may exaggerate his/her feelings and opinions in order to get the mark that is wanted or the learner may try to make him /herself look better according to what s/he believes the educator to be looking for in this analysis. The analysis is also difficult to assess since it is based almost entirely on the learners? subjective views on their own development and the educator?s feelings about the learner and their responses. For these reasons, it was argued that it is important to assess a learner in terms of the learner standing up for his /her opinions and emotions while respecting the opinions and emotions of others. This, however, does not lead to an easy-to- mark guide to assessment. 99 Emotional Rating Scales The National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation states that there should be a rating scale as a means of assessing the learner. A rating scale is defined as ?any marking system where a symbol (such as A or B) or a mark (such as 5/10 or 50%) is defined in detail to link the coded score to a description of the competences that are required to achieve that score? (National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation, 2003, p.41). It further provides the following table as an indication of the scale of achievement for the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 (General) Rating Code Description of Competence Marks (%) 7 Outstanding Achievement 80-100 6 Meritorious Achievement 70-79 5 Substantial Achievement 60-69 4 Adequate Achievement 50-59 3 Moderate Achievement 40-49 2 Elementary Achievement 30-39 1 Not achieved 0-29 Table 22: Scale of achievement for the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10-12 (General) (National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation: Subject Assessment Guidelines 2007, p. 6) The NCS, however, does not provide either an indication on how it is possible to assess the emotional elements of the learner, nor what competences should be assumed in order for the learner to get a certain mark in this area. The use of a rating scale to assess the emotions was a contentious topic amongst the participants, as was evident in the varied responses to this question. The participants who felt that it is possible to assign a rating scale to the emotions assumed that this is only possible when looking at the responses of the learner in a written test or assignment, where the justification of an emotion or an opinion was given extra points on top of a simple presentation of the opinion or emotion. 100 The problems involved with assigning a rating scale to the non-cognitive aspects of the learner included the administration involved with assigning a rating scale to each learner, the problematic nature when assigning a mark to each learner, subjectivity involved with this aspect of assessment, the assumption that an educator can use a ?personal development analysis? to describe emotions, and the feelings that each learner should get full marks for their interpretation of their emotions. The administration involved in providing a rating scale to the assessment of the non- cognitive elements of the learner was said to become tedious. This is because trying to come up with a scale that is not subjective, but does not rely too heavily on the behavioural indications of the learners? emotions or non-related elements of the learner, such as neatness of work and handwriting is difficult and requires a large list that may be ineffective. Furthermore, the training involved in Life Orientation within the tertiary institutions was seen as problematic. The prospective educators are allowed to do two of the three areas involved in Life Orientation (either Personal Well-being, Citizenship Education, Physical Wellbeing or Religion Education). Because the prospective educators are allowed to drop one of the subjects involved in Life Orientation, they do not necessarily have a firm grasp or adequate knowledge involved in all of the different areas of Life Orientation. As a result, the educators involved in Life Orientation may not be able to adequately assess the different areas of the learners? development, since they do not necessarily have sufficient knowledge of the different elements involved in the area of Life Orientation. Assigning a rating scale to the emotions is subjective on the part of the educators. Attempting to assess the learners? emotions using a rating scale may involve educators putting the learners into ?boxes? or misdiagnosing them according to elements of their behaviour that are not necessarily a true indication of their feelings and emotions, such as their handwriting, the neatness of their work, or elements of their behaviour. 101 In addition to this, while it may be possible to assess a learner according to a ?personal development analysis?, where the learner looks at elements of his /her activities, behaviour, relationships and community service over a period of time, it was felt that it is not fair to assign a rating scale to this, since it is not truly reflective of the learners? opinions or feelings. The last problem involves the assumption that on principle, simply by virtue of the fact that the learner has an emotion, s/he should get 100% no matter what the opinion or emotion, and no matter how s/he chooses to justify it. Consequently, if the learner demonstrates morals or principles that are against societal norms, or considered unethical, s/he should get full marks simply because s/he has emotions and opinions. The assignment of full marks to a learner no matter what the ethics or morals shown by the learner leads to a contradiction in terms. The learner should get full marks no matter what his /her opinion or emotion. However, if the learner gets 100% no matter what the emotion or opinion that s/he is illustrating, the educator is not able to teach basic morals and ethics to the learner. The one way that all the participants agreed will make it easier to assess the learners? non- cognitive elements is through continuous assessment. The NCS: L.O. (2003) argues that continuous assessment is a ?strategy that bases decisions about learning on a range of different assessment activities and events that happen at different times throughout the learning process? (p. 39). The NCS: L.O. (2003) furthermore maintains that continuous assessment involves approaches to evaluation that are spread out throughout the year, and uses ?various kinds of assessment instruments and methods such as tests, examinations, projects and assignments. Oral, written and performance assessments are included? (p. 39). The NCS: L.O. (Subject Assessment Guidelines (2007) states that continuous assessment should be used to develop learners? knowledge, skills and values; assess learners? strengths and weaknesses; provide additional support to learners; revisit or revise certain sections of the curriculum and motivate and encourage learners. However, the use of continuous assessment has its strengths and weaknesses. The principal strength of continuous assessment is that it is argued to be more beneficial to the weaker 102 learners, since it gives a more representative view of the learners? skills and abilities. If the learner is having a ?bad day? or is having emotional or domestic problems and so forth, continuous assessment gives a fairer depiction of the learner?s abilities. Additionally, because continuous assessment gives marks for non-rote learning forms of education, such as art, oral presentations and so forth, and learners who do not do as well in conventional learning are more likely to do better in schools. The problem with the continuous assessment as an assessment tool is that it does not necessarily take into account the learners? emotions. This is primarily due to the fact that even though continuous assessment is supposed to be good since it looks at a learner?s marks over a period of time and looks at elements of the learner such as oral presentations and art work and so forth, only a few educators are privileged with knowledge about the child such as emotional problems and family problems. As a result it is difficult to take all of the elements of the learner into account in the teaching /learning process when the educator does not have all of the relevant information about the learners. Another problem with continuous assessment is that it needs to be a whole school effort. Every member of staff needs to be adhering to continuous assessment in order for this assessment tool to be effective. Furthermore because it can take years to change a person?s attitudes and opinions, holistic development needs to be a commitment by the whole school and every educator and staff member at the school. In addition to the whole-school effort, the school ethos is very important in the assessment of the emotions of the learner. The prospective educators may graduate from University with an adequate understanding of the holistic development of the learner, however, s/he may come into a school which does not have an ethos that looks at the non-cognitive aspects of the learner, and for this reason, the educator may feel uncomfortable when attempting to look at the different aspects of the learner. The school may also only pay lip- service to continuous assessment, and consequently the educators are unable to look at elements of the learners? development only observed in their artwork or oral presentations. The ethos of the school and the culture of the school therefore make a difference when 103 attempting to put continuous assessment into practice, and when attempting to take the emotions into account in the classroom situation. Continuous assessment also may not be used in the teaching /learning process because it is perceived to have a high administration load for educators. It is contended that the work- load has increased since the introduction of continuous assessment because the educator needs to keep marks for the different kinds of assessment instruments and methods, such as tests, examinations, projects, assignments, as well as oral, written and performance assessment. For this reason, continuous assessment may not be used by the educators since the educators find that the administration involved is excessive and tedious. The last problem involved with continuous assessment as an assessment tool is that the prospective educators may not have enough exposure to it at a tertiary level. The prospective educators may not have enough practical exposure in the assessment of learners during their teacher-training and for this reason, may feel uncomfortable using continuous assessment, as well as the assessment of the emotional elements of the learner. The one factor that does make a clear difference in taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process is the size of the class. The greater the number of learners in a class, the less likely the educator is able to get to know the unique individuals within the class and the less likely the educator is able to teach and assess the non-cognitive elements of the learner. Other factors influencing taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process Besides the problems stated above, there are a number of additional problems related to taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. The time that is allocated to Life Orientation was the most strongly articulated difficulty expressed by the participants. The problems involved with time allocation include the fact that there are too few Life Orientation lessons per week, and consequently the educators teaching Life 104 Orientation do not have enough time to get to know the learner. The Learning Programme Guidelines for the NCS: L.O. (2007) state that there are seventy two (72) hours available for the teaching of Life Orientation in Grades 10 and 11, and sixty (60) hours in Grade 12. Because of the few hours assigned to L.O., the educators are unable to take the emotional development of the learner into account in the teaching /learning process, since the educators cannot know the distinctive and idiosyncratic nature of the different individuals in each class. Furthermore, the educators often have too many classes and too many learners in each class for them to get to know each learner adequately. The size of the school is also important when attempting to get to know the learners adequately. This is because it is easier to learn about the unique nature of each learner when there are fewer learners in a school, and when an educator sees the same learners for a subject for more than one year in a row. Another problem related to the allocation of time is that because Life Orientation often does not have a high status in the school, the Life Orientation lessons may be used as a means for the educator to catch up on administrative matters. In view of the fact that Life Orientation has become a unified learning area containing a number of different subjects, including Guidance, Physical Education and Religious Education, there is not enough time allocated to Life Orientation every week (approximately three lessons every ten days), as mentioned above. During this time the Life Orientation educator is supposed to delve into the different aspects of Personal Well- being; Citizenship Education, Physical Well-being and Career and Career choices. There is not enough time to go into each of these aspects sufficiently, and for this reason, the educator may not be able to adequately look at the different aspects of the child, including his /her emotions. Furthermore, the unification of the different areas of Life Orientation is also a factor when teaching Life Orientation in the tertiary education institutions, since each lecturer is involved with his /her specific aspect of Life Orientation, and often considers this aspect of 105 Life Orientation more important than any of the other aspects of Life Orientation. Consequently, the lecturers tend to privilege his/her own area of Life Orientation, often not linking it to the other areas of Life Orientation. Moreover, the prospective educators may feel a bias toward certain areas of Life Orientation, and concentrate on that area without making adequate time or energy available for the areas of Life Orientation that are less favoured. Consequently the learner will have an insufficient grounding in the different areas of Life Orientation, and may not be prepared to take the different aspects of the learner into account in the classroom situation. The unification of Life Orientation as a learning area, and the possible deficiencies related to the understanding of all the different aspects of this learning area by Life Orientation educators led to the view that Life Orientation should have more than one educator teaching it in schools. There should be a different educator for each aspect of Life Orientation so that the different aspects of the learner are being developed effectively. Another feature related to taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process is that of educator support. Because there are currently so many different problems associated with adolescence, such as crime, divorce, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS and so forth, the educator may need external support and debriefing in order to cope with what has been happening in school and discussions held with learners in the classrooms. The last feature that was discussed in taking the emotional development of learners into account is that of conceptual problems. There was a clear division amongst the school- based participants and university-based participants with regard to the conceptual aspect of taking the emotions into account in the teaching/learning process. The school-based participants argued that while they know implicitly what the emotions and holism may be, there is little or no practical guidance on how to teach it or how to assess it. The university-based participants agreed with the school-based participants in this regard, however, the university-based participants argued that there are conceptual problems with taking the non-cognitive aspects of the learner into account in the teaching/learning 106 process, since they argued that while both the concepts of holism and emotions are intrinsic to the individual, on a deeper level, there is nothing to explicitly explain what these areas of the individual entail, nor how to teach or assess it. Furthermore, the university-based participants stated that they are unable to go into the philosophy or psychology of the non- cognitive elements of development since these areas are considered implicit rather than explicit, and for this reason it is difficult ? if not impossible ? to teach and assess these areas of the learners? development. There may be two basic reasons for the difference in answers between the school-based and university-based participants. The first is that the school-based participants simply did not feel the need to discuss the conceptual problems related to taking the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. The second reason is that there is an increased level of reflection at a university level, and the lecturers are continuously attempting to grapple with the notions of educating the ?whole child? within their different learning areas. It is clear from the above discussion that educators understand the policy demands and appreciate the complexity of taking the holistic development of learners into account. It is considered difficult, although not impossible, to teach the emotional side of the learners. Similarly, the assessment of the learners in this regard is considered difficult, although not impossible. In each of these cases, however, there is a disparity between what is assumed theoretically and what is possible and practical to do within the classroom situation. While both the teaching and the assessment of the learners is theoretically possible, it is practically difficult to do so, and often unrealistic given the nature of schools in South Africa and the number of learners in each class. It was therefore shown in this report that educators do not feel competent to teach and assess emotions in the classroom situation, and that the training that they had received in the past does not increase their feelings of competency in this regard. Furthermore, teacher trainers do not feel that it is practical to teach and assess emotions in the classroom situation, since they feel that this element of the child cannot be taught or assessed since it is inherent, rather than explicit. The teacher trainers also do not feel particularly proficient 107 in teaching holism and the emotions to prospective educators. This, in turn, calls into question how exactly policy intends to take the emotions, as a paradigmatic instance of the holistic development of learners into account in the teaching /learning process, and whether it is practical to do so. 108 Conclusion Earlier it was shown that education is supposed to perpetuate the norms and values considered important in any given society. The South African government consider well- balanced individuals important, and in order to build a nation of individuals who are balanced in terms of their cognitive, emotional, physical, spiritual and social aspects, the Department of Education has included the notion of the ?holistic development of Learners?, which is supposed to take the various aspects of the learner into account. The problem with including all of the different aspects of the learners is that it exacerbates the differences that may be seen between the policy prescriptions and what these policy prescriptions mean in reality. An education policy may be idealistic in some respects, since it is attempting to deal with a grandiose vision of bringing about both change and stability. At a symbolic level, the purpose of a policy document is to effect significant change. The desired change that is hoped for by the South African government is the successful education of the ?whole child?, thereby encouraging ?the development of a balanced and confident learner who can contribute to a just and democratic society, a productive economy and an improved quality of life for all (NCS: L.O. Learning Programme Guidelines, 2007, p.7) However, there is a significant chasm between policy prescriptions and what they might entail in reality. Often, how a policy is understood and implemented is unrealistic in practical terms. In the case of the ?holistic development of learners?, it is laudable to attempt to take all of the different elements of a learner into account, including the cognitive, emotional, spiritual, physical and social aspects of the learners? development. However, ultimately, it is still difficult to look at the non-cognitive aspects of the learner, since it is practically and theoretically problematic to look at these aspects of the learner. The emotions are inherent in every level of the educative process, from teaching and learning, to the social aspect of schooling, to assessment. However, by stating that ?the intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of learners will be addressed 109 though the design and development of appropriate Learning Programmes and though the use of appropriate assessment instruments? (National Curriculum Statement: Life Orientation, 2003, p.4) is to state that not only are these aspects of the learner assumed in each different level of the schooling process, but that it is also viable to teach and assess these elements of the learner. Ultimately, assessment is cognitive. Assessment is based on elements of the learner that can be externalised in such a fashion that it is possible to assign a rubric or assessment scale to it. The fact that there is no indication of a critical outcome or competence descriptions for the emotions is evident of the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible to assess this area of a learner?s development. It may, however, be possible to look at certain elements of the learners? development such as community service or self- esteem as an instance of the emotions; however, such appraisals fail to look at the emotions themselves, how they come about, or how they are expressed. It is also possible to assign a rating scale insofar as the learner is able to substantiate his /her outward expression of an emotion or opinion with justification. This is, however, subjective on the part of both the educator and the learner, and may be biased according to what the learner feels that the educator wants to hear. It is also significant to note that there were serious attempts on the part of the educators and schools to attempt to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process. One reason for the attempts of programmes to take the emotions into account in the schools was that is was seen as obligatory, since the National Curriculum Statement stated that it wanted to look at all of the different aspects of the Learner in the teaching /learning process. The first and primary way of looking at the emotions of the learner was to get to know the learners as unique individuals. However, none of these programmes presented means of assessing the learners, and most of them were abandoned due to the high administration loads and the difficulties in assigning questions that were linked directly to the emotions. For the reasons stated above, it is clear that while it is commendable to take the emotions into account in the teaching /learning process; on a practical level this is difficult and unrealistic. While the policy has admirable visions of change, it does not necessarily take 110 into account the difficulties with the practicalities of teaching the non-cognitive aspects of the learner. It may be concluded that the idealistic way that the policy treats both the emotions and the holistic development of the learner may be seen as a paradigmatic instance of similar instances of idealism and symbolic gestures observed within the National Curriculum Statement. 111 Reference Anspaligh, D., Hendrick, M., and Rosato, F. (1997) Wellness Concepts and Applications. 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Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thompson Learning. 116 Appendix 1 QUESTIONNAIRE SCHEDULE: School-based Participants Closed Questions ? What do you teach? ? Why did you choose to become an educator? ? Why did you choose the learning area of Life Orientation? ? What degree did you get at University or College? ? How did this affect you going into Life Orientation? ? At what institution did you train? ? How much experience do you have within the field of Life Orientation? Questions with regard to training of Life Orientation ? Have you participated in ? or facilitated ? any Life Orientation training programmes external to your tertiary education? ? What did you think about these Life Orientation training Programmes? Questions with regard to Holism/ the Emotions ? Have you encountered the concept of taking the holism into account in the teaching/learning process? ? Are you familiar with this concept? ? Within the area of Life Orientation /Guidance, what have you been taught with regard to taking the ?whole child? into account? The ?whole child? includes the cognitive, spiritual, physical and emotional elements of the learner. ? What do you understand by emotions in the classroom? ? Do you feel that you can take the emotions of the learner into account? ? If so, how do you do so? ? What problems do you foresee with regard to taking the emotions into account within the classroom situation? 117 ? Do you think that educators other than Life Orientation educators can take the emotions into account in the classroom situation? ? If so, why? If not, why not? Questions with regard to the emotions and discipline ? In terms of the classroom situation, if you have a child showing signs of socially unacceptable behaviour, do you think that you can take account their emotional and holistic needs but still discipline them? ? Why? Why not? Questions with regard to assessment ? Do you think that it is possible to assess more than the cognitive or intellectual elements of the learner, such as the emotional, spiritual or physical? ? If so, how do you think this is possible? ? What would be the assessment instruments? ? If you do think that you can assess a learner?s emotions, can you quantify the emotions in such a way that you can give the learner a rating scale or assessment symbol? ? Why? Why not? ? If yes, how do you do so? ? Do you think that continuous assessment helps with the assessment of the emotions? ? If yes, why? If not, why not? General Questions ? Do you have any other questions or comments related to the holistic development of the learner 118 QUESTIONNAIRE SCHEDULE: University-based Participants Closed Questions ? Which area of Life Orientation do you lecture? ? How long have you been lecturing for? ? Why did you decide to go into /be involved in Life Orientation? ? What level of students do you teach Life Orientation? By this, I mean, are you teaching First Year, Second Year, Third Year, Fourth Year, or a combination of all of these? ? Where did you get your degree from? Questions with regard to training of Life Orientation ? Have you participated in, or facilitated any training seminars or courses in Life Orientation outside Wits University ? What did you think about these training seminars in terms of the structure and the content? Questions with regard to Holism ? Have you encountered the concept of Holism in the curriculum? ? Are you familiar with this idea? ? What do you understand by Holism in the Curriculum / the ?Holistic Development of Learners? ? What do you understand this concept of the ?Holistic development of learners? to entail? ? How do you create awareness in prospective students about the concept of the ?whole child?? ? How do you go about teaching the concept of Holism to prospective students? ? What problems do you foresee with regard to Holism and the child, if any? Questions with regard to assessment ? Do you think that it is possible to assess more than the cognitive or intellectual elements of the learner, such as the emotional, spiritual or physical? 119 ? If so, how do you think this is possible? ? What would be the assessment instruments? ? If you do think that you can assess a learner?s emotions, can you quantify the emotions in such a way that you can give the learner a rating scale or assessment symbol? ? Why? Why not? ? If yes, how do you do so? General Questions ? Do you have any other questions or comments related to the holistic development of the learner